TW: Mentions Sexual Assault
Recently in October, tensions have been brewing in EFLU (English and Foreign Languages University Hyderabad), one of the prominent Universities in South India, for its anti-student approach. The shocking incident happened on October 18 night when a female student was sexually and physically harassed by two unidentified assailants on campus. This raises questions about the safety of female students at EFLU.
As per the sources some issues are already ongoing in the campus as the University lacks space for proper intellectual and political discussion. Administration has been employing strict regulations on political events and student protests to maintain proper peaceful functioning of campus. From October 16 onwards EFLU,Hyderabad has been burning for various student related issues.
What is happening at EFLU? A closer look
October 16: SPARSH is EFLU’s sexual harassment redressal cell. Students protested at around 7pm for the demand to reconstitute SPARSH (Sensitisation, Prevention and Redressal of Sexual Harassment ). It was conducted by the EFLU students collective. As per the sources in EFLU, SPARSH was dysfunctional for a long time.
October 17: After the one night protest march to the campus the students concluded the protest on 17th October when the administration had promised to fulfil one of their demands to elect three student representatives to the SPARSH committee. However, the demand to have LGBTQ representation has been denied by the admin.
“There is no special provision in UGC to elect LGBTQ students to the sexual sensitisation committee. So, we decided to call off the protest and have decided to keep the demand of electing LGBTQ representation in the future” a student said.
Students gathered for protest at EFLU, Hyderabad
SPARSH has changed to ICC now, there are student representatives recommended in an ICC formation circular issued by administration. Also that was a backdated circular of October 11, 2023 which creates doubt among students and not satisfactory. Thus, the credibility of ICC formation is at stake.
Women’s collective in EFLU is pointing out that the constitution of the ICC goes against UGC guidelines, that is, persons in senior administrative positions shall not be included in ICCs in order to ensure autonomy of their functioning.
As per the new circular, Prof. Anjali Bagde is the Presiding Officer of ICC and also she is the Dean of the School of European Languages which is a violation and once again raises questions about the transparency of the investigation. Following this, students question the power dynamics in ICC.
As per The University Grants Commission (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of sexual harassment of women employees and Students in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations 2015, all higher educational institutions have the duties in terms of preventing sexual harassment in workplace. It is the duty of educational institutions to ensure that the students are aware about the redressal mechanism and to make students informed about the appropriate contacts to report the sexual assault case.
According to the sources in EFLU, students are totally unaware about the functioning of sexual harassment redressal cell, that is SPARSH. And because of this ignorance from the side of campus many cases went unreported.
A print out photo of EFLU Vice Chancellor, E Suresh Kumar circulating in campus
What was the reading circle that MSF decided to conduct but canceled?
October 18: The Muslim Students Federation (MSF) had decided to conduct a literary event, a reading circle on Palestine: Perspectives on Literary Resistance. But the University did not grant the permission. Students usually do not ask permission if the event is about a reading circle or political one. Program was decided to conduct at around 7pm and some students were prevented by security guards in the New Academic Block where the program decided to hold. In fact due to the disapproval from Police and University administration the program was canceled.
“Proctor has given a communal narrative and kept silent on sexual assault case” says a MSF student
“It was purely a literary event. We were aiming to engage in discourse about scholars Edward Said, Noam Chomsky and Mahmoud Darwish. The organizers of the reading circle program came at around 6pm to the venue. By 6.15pm police and other administration officers came to the venue. Police told us to not conduct the program inside the campus and made us aware about the legal problem of conducting it. Thus, MSF had withdrawn the program.
Proctor T Samson addressing protesters
We circulated the poster about the event in Whatsapp only, neither objectionable nor anti-national slogans on it.
Proctor, T Samson is targeting MSF with a communal narrative. He is not ready to address a sexual assault case that happened on October 18 night inside the campus but he is all ready to defame MSF publicly. We demanded VC to come outside and address the issue of assault but he did not. We came to know there is an FIR registered by the complaint of proctor.
The entire story was narrated in a different manner. Palestine reading circle has nothing to do with any of the issues on campus, but proctor gave a false angle to the issue by showing his Islamophobic attitude. He tried to communalise a program that did not even take place. They were targeting the students .They were adamant to charge non-bailable offences to the student leaders who were in the front line of protest from October 16 to 19.” a MSF leader said.
October 18 Night: Later at around 10.30pm, a female student was found unconscious on campus and few students rushed to the nearest health center taking the survivor. Assailants allegedly asked the survivor about her presence in protest, it is not sure if the culprits were talking about SPARSH protest or Palestine reading circle. She moved from the health center to a private hospital. By early morning on October 19, students came to know about the sexual assault incident.
October 19: Osmania University Police registered an FIR against 11 students by the complaint of EFLU’s Proctor T Samson and later he had released a statement criticizing the students. He put forward some serious allegations against protesting students by saying the protesters have denied him drinking water and isolated him.
He tried to give a different angle. He said those who blocked him earlier were those who tried to conduct a Palestine reading circle and particularly quoted “ a group under the name and style of MSF”. The entire complaint of proctor revolved around the Palestine reading circle. Amidst these incidents University declared holidays for students till October 29.
Concerned about this, ET Mohammed Basheer MP, V Sivadasan MP and PV Abdul Wahab MP wrote letters to Education Minister, NCW Chairperson and UGC Chairperson respectively on the sexual assault case and safety of students in campus. According to the students, after covid University has been trying to bring many restrictions on campus, thus such protests pose big challenges to those restrictions. University admin tries to suppress students' movements in whatever manner it is possible.
Women’s collective allegation against professors
In the meantime, a collective led by female students came up with a set of complaints and allegations against a few professors in EFLU, Hyderabad. They brought out the names of professors who allegedly interacted in inappropriate manner with female students in late hours. The screenshots shared by the sources in EFLU reveals the unsafe situation of students with their professors in cyberspace.
Women’s collective blamed the ‘inefficiency' of ICC (Internal Complaints Committee). It points fingers on moral policing and victim shaming that have been employed on the survivor by the administration.
In a statement Women’s collective says that “neither the Vice Chancellor nor anyone from proctorial board addressed the sexual assault case investigation”. Later VC of EFLU responded to The Hindu and said “The campus is peaceful and in order”.
Reacting to the comment Women’s collective said “VC defines as peaceful is just a state of extensive fear that has permeated in the campus” It called out administration’s incompetence in dealing with instances of harassment on campus and the way in which the case is being dealt with.
“The warden of the girls hostel in EFLU was asking the survivor that “Why did you come out at night?” and told the students to not tell anyone outside about the incident. The survivor was not satisfied with the treatment in the health center so we moved to a private hospital and on the next day she filed a complaint in the police station. We believe that ICC in campus is not at all functioning properly” a female student, member of the women's collective in EFLU Hyderabad told about the sexual assault incident that happened on October 18 night.
Protesters wearing masks and hoodies so that they will not be identified by admin
What is the present update in the EFLU Sexual harassment case?
On 23rd October, Chairperson of National Commission for Women Rekha Sharma has requested DGP, Telangana State Police to conduct a free and fair time bound investigation in to the matter of sexual harassment and take proper action against the alleged accused persons. She has requested to ensure the safety of students on campus.
Students and alumni of EFLU, Hyderabad have written an open letter to the President of India, requesting to intervene in the ongoing affairs in University. They called out the mismanagement, gross negligence and insensitivity of Vice Chancellor and Proctorial board in handling the case of sexual harassment of a female student.
No Women safety, no effective ICC; Total Failure of System
Starting from the denial of freedom of speech and expression of each student to the safety threat of women in EFLU, identified problems have been at the forefront in India’s reputed University. The zero transparency in students' involvement in the sexual redressal committee made things worse. Added to that, University’s draconian measures in suppressing dissent is highly condemnable.
Students holding night protest at EFLU
The failure of University administration in ensuring women’s safety not only shows its inefficiency in handling such cases but exposes the ignorant side of officials. The toxic culture of slut shaming or victim shaming has been deeply rooted in Indian academic spaces.
As far as I have interacted with the students in EFLU, they don’t know where to go or whom to meet if a sexual harassment case took place. This is an irresponsibility from the admin side.
Colleges should be accountable of dealing appropriately with sexual assault cases by forming active Internal Complaints Committee.
There should be effective campaigns and personal counseling available for each student about the need to be aware of consent. Students are afraid that if they raise their voice against the administration it will affect their academic activity or will they get threats from admin to destroy their career?
In such a situation, how can educational spaces ensure freedom of expression? The failure of education exists in disallowing young minds to be the part of the decision making process and thereby silencing them with threats.
(All the photos used are accessed from EFLU Students)