St Aloynius College in Mangalore has asked girls to keep a distance from boys.
Students at a college in Mangalore are baffled and outraged at bizarre new rules announced last week.
The St Aloynius College asks girls to keep a distance from boys and says that "no girl or boy must touch each other". The rules emerged at an orientation class last week and were apparently posted on social media by a former student.
According to the post, the college has said no to hair buns, hair colour, "changing one's hairstyle", leaving one's hair down and the use of kajal and lipstick. Even for henna on their hands, they have to ask for permission.
The post claims girls have been asked to dress modestly, maintain a distance from boys and not visit boys of other classes during breaks, There should be "no interaction between a single girl and a group of boys or a single boy and a group of girls," the college says, according to the social media post.
St Aloysius College, run by Jesuit priests for nearly three decades, is co-ed.
College principal Melwyn Mendonca has denied enforcing these rules and said that the post is "far from true". He said the college held value education classes for students regularly and at a recent orientation class, students were asked to stick to the rules of the college on "uniform, discipline and decent behavior".
Reverend Mendonca claimed that parents had asked the college authorities to keep a strict watch on students after a student eloped last year. "Even the parents are happy with rules. They have no objections. Admissions were increasing every year," he said.
He also claimed that the restrictions in his college are less stringent compared to other pre-university colleges in the district and are aimed at making sure that students are focused on studies and have moral values.
Students' outraged posts reacting to the alleged diktat have been widely shared. A group of students has also written an open letter to the college, in which it questions: "Why can't guys be found with girls? Why are girls asked to behave and boys, in the blink of an eye, accepted?"