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The Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) has dismissed links to an event that raked up controversy over gender segregation on the campus. The row erupted after male and female participants were separated by a sheet of cloth at an event organised by a religious youth forum named Wisdom Islamic Students Organisation (WISO). CUSAT filed a police complaint against an online portal and a social media user for spreading misinformation against it.
The event was a curtain-raiser to the Professional Students Global Conference (ProfCon), an annual event conducted by WISO, set to be held at Mangaluru this year. As per the organisation’s social media page, a campus debate organised by its CUSAT unit was held at a Community Hall near CUSAT on September 15. Pictures shared on the Instagram page ‘wisdom_cusat’ showed a yellow cloth separating male participants from the female participants who were seated in the last rows of the hall.
Various individuals and organisations such as the state unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) protested against the event alleging gender segregation on the campus. Following this, CUSAT issued a press statement dismissing links with the event.
“A false information is being circulated on social media claiming that an event named ‘ProfCon’ was held at CUSAT on September 15 as part of the upcoming Wisdom Conference. It is completely false and misleading. No event in the name ‘ProfCon’ was organised by CUSAT within or outside its campus. Furthermore, no external organisations or individuals organised such an event within the CUSAT campus,” it said.
CUSAT also dismissed allegations of gender segregation on its campus. “The university has always upheld the ideals of equality and does not organise any discriminatory events or practices. CUSAT requests media and students not to spread unverified information,” it added.
CUSAT’s complaint was filed with the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Kochi and the Cyber Cell against online portal Tatwamayi News and social media user ‘smithageorge84’ for spreading misinformation against CUSAT based on the event.
Though the visuals of the event raised questions of gender discrimination, WISO posted a video by Abdulla Basil, one of the lead speakers at the event, where he justified the separation. “Muslims have been observing gender segregation wherever possible. There are no sheets, but walls separate male and female in mosques,” he said.
In 2022, a similar photo of students of the Government Medical College in Thrissur, shared by Abdulla, created discussions over gender segregation and discrimination. That time too, a sheet of cloth was used to separate participants, medical students, based on gender.
WISO has been taking a consistent stand against subjects of gender diversity, gender neutral uniforms, and zumba classes in schools. According to the website of WISO’s parent firm Wisdom Islamic Organisation, it was formed in 2017 after breaking away from Kerala Nadvatul Mujahideen. One of the major objectives of the organisation is religious propagation in a scientific and systematic manner.