New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to interfere with Banaras Hindu University rules imposing certain restrictions on girls who stay in hostels, saying the curbs were aimed at ensuring the safety of the students themselves.

A bench of Justices Arun Misra and M. Shantanagoudar, while declining to pass any directive to the varsity, asked the aggrieved students to approach the BHU authorities for seeking any relaxation in the rules.

The bench said the petitioners could approach the apex court at a later stage if they failed to get a proper response from the BHU authorities.

"Everything cannot be said in court. These rules are for the safety of the girls.... Even I could not get into my daughter's hostel. It is for their own safety," Justice Misra, who was heading the bench, told Prashant Bhushan, the advocate for the students.

The students had challenged the rules that say how residents of the Mahila Mahavidyalaya Hostel should dress, apart from denying non-vegetarian food and Wi-fi facilities. The girls cannot also speak on their mobiles beyond 10pm or leave the hostel after 8pm, according to the rules.

Bhushan argued that the rules were discriminatory as no such restrictions had been imposed on male students.

"The rules say the girls should wear decent clothes, what is decent?" he asked in the court.

"Is this a university? What is the basis of these orders? How do you do this? These rules are not there for the boys."

The counsel for BHU said the rules were flexible as the varsity was willing to relax them on a case-to-case basis in special circumstances.

The court, after briefly hearing the arguments, refused to interfere with the rules saying the students could make a proper representation to the varsity authorities on their grievances.