Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise to the female students from Banaras Hindu University who have been protesting against an alleged case of molestation on campus and being subjected to violence, ANI reported.

“It [Varanasi] is the prime minister’s constituency,” Gandhi said. “He should apologise and act immediately,”

He also called the government’s move to register a First Information Report against the students “shameful and wrong”. “These girls have not done anything wrong,” he said.

Although the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre has schemes for women such as “Beti bachao, beti padhao”, if the “daughter asks for her rights, she gets beaten up...this is the BJP’s philosophy”, the Congress leader added.

Students at Banaras Hindu University have been protesting since Friday morning, alleging that three men had molested a female student near Kala Bhavan inside the campus on Thursday night. They accused the administration of insensitivity and have demanded strict curbs on harassing women on campus.

Earlier on Monday, a thousand BHU students were booked for arson after violence broke out during a protest march against the alleged molestation. A few officers at the Lanka Police Station, where the FIR was lodged, were also removed from their posts.