In a horrifying incident at IIT Delhi, 10 female students of the Bharti College were secretly filmed while they were changing in the IIT Delhi washroom for a fashion show during the institute’s ongoing fest. The accused was identified as a 20-year-old contractual sweeper, and the Delhi Police later arrested him.
A student told The Hindu that one of her friends had noticed a cell phone in the shaft of the washroom. “We then realised that there was someone who was secretly filming us and we immediately screamed for help. Later, when we checked the CCTV footage, we found that the person had broken through the window of the shaft connected to the washroom and had been there for almost 10 minutes”. Her team members alleged that when they raised the issue, the head of security at IIT Delhi insisted that they go and perform on the stage and “take out their anger through their performance”.
Similar incidents have occurred at Miranda House, Gargi College and Indraprastha College for Women in the past, where men scaled the security walls, openly cat-called women, and indulged in sloganeering and harassment. Allegations of harassment were made against a professor at South Asian University in June 2023, and research scholars in Vishva Bharti University had to write a letter to the Prime Minister after they made sexual harassment allegations against an associate professor.
Incidents like these are sadly common in India, where a woman's sense of self and her privacy is routinely violated and disrespected. This is aggravated by the sheer insensitivity shown by the administration. The matter is treated as negotiable and something that can be postponed to a later date.
It is concerning to note that educational institutions which are catalysts of change in society, particularly for women, are exactly the places where women feel unsafe and insecure, which acts as a deterrent for future education and limits their opportunities.
In India, discussions on sex are deemed taboo in our conservative society. Most of the students became aware of sexual harassment through either media or books as opposed to schools/universities and parents. Even though educational institutions may have sexual harassment policies, unless they are regularly followed through training and awareness, they are likely to be ineffective.
Experiences of Women
To further understand the problem of sexual harassment in educational institutions, I prepared an online questionnaire. Following are the responses I received.
Anurag, a student of DTU, said, “My female best friend once felt uncomfortable around a professor who was being a bit too complimentary, and she felt a bit helpless because he was on a very high post, and the incident wasn't ‘big enough’ to complain about.” Anurag went on to say that they didn’t report this incident, but it was predictable that if they had, it would have been ignored by the authorities.
The difference in power dynamics between a male faculty and a female student is due to two factors: academic environment and patriarchy.
Shrijana Barua, a student of DU, told me, “ I’ve had multiple instances when I felt unsafe; being gawked at even after giving them a sour side eye and being catcalled are something I’ve gotten used to. All of these incidents evolved anger; anger directed not just at them but somehow sparking off suspicion at any man who looks my way.”
This culture of normalising the sexual objectification of women is a big part of the institutional sexism I was talking about earlier. This culture seeks to convey the message that the hyper-sexualisation of women is merely due to “men will be men”, and that is okay.
A student of Gargi College who wished to remain anonymous, echoed the same concerns. She said, “My friend had an incident like this. She used to go to a coaching institute and there was a creepy teacher who used to stare at girls in a very bad way and touch them in the name of patting back or something. She complained, but no action was taken because he is a 'teacher' but when a bunch of girls came out with their parents, they had to take action, but still they didn't fire him or take any legal action. They transferred him to another branch outside of Delhi.”
This sort of trivialising lewd sexual behaviour prevents women from coming forward as survivors and telling their stories. Sometimes, women are urged to stay silent as the “fight” is not worth it; powerful men are mostly let off with a slap on the wrist.
She went on to say, “ In Gargi, this incident happened, I think, in 2020, and I got to know about this from seniors who were present at that time. A fest was going on, and some politician's son and his gang came and started shouting like "Miranda hamara, Gargi hamara..." and barged through the main gate and started groping and harassing the girls. Thankfully, actions were taken pretty quickly, and it was stopped before it could get any serious. But no one was punished in this incident because it's 'politics', and it's so damn frustrating. I mean, why can't you take action? If you are someone operating and taking care of a girl's college, why can’t they defend the girls of that college?”
The same pattern of insensitivity shown by IIT Delhi was evident in the response of the Gargi College administration. An FIR was registered 3 days after the incident had happened. Students alleged that the security personnel took no action despite the men masturbating and harassing women. Students told The Economic Times, “We took up the matter with the college management. They said they had taken ‘note of it’ but didn’t promise any action.” The problem was not just that men were allowed to enter despite having no entry passes or that there was a security lapse; the deeper problem is that sexual harassment is still not serious in our society unless there is a media storm and a threat to a college’s reputation.
How Can This Change?
The influential Pinjra Tod movement that started in response to discrimination in hostel curfew timings for men and women also fought for the implementation of UGC guidelines on sexual harassment. Under the POSH Act of 2013, every workplace having more than 10 employees must have an internal complaints committee to resolve complaints of sexual harassment. The 2016 UGC Guidelines mandate that each ICC should have a senior woman faculty member, two other faculty members, three elected student members and an external member associated with an NGO. However, in real practice, colleges seek to sidestep these regulations, as was evident in the case of Ruchika Kedia v/s The Internal Complaints, Goa Institute of Management, where the court held the institute guilty of not involving student members in all stages of the investigation and the appointing an external member who had no experience working with sexual harassment cases.
The institutions are also supposed to organise training programmes and workshops for faculty and students as per the SAKSHAM report of the UGC. A student I talked to told me, “ There are no training programs that I know of. Seminars and workshops do happen, but I would say not as often as they should.”
The attitude of considering sexual harassment as only an issue when it makes headlines also affects the way we implement policy. This is why, despite the threat of getting de-recognised by the government and cutting off funds for universities that do not comply with these guidelines, most universities have had threadbare sexual harassment policies, often implemented on paper itself. The power dynamics between student-student and student-faculty, particularly for PhD students, are left unexplored. Ensuring mental health support, proper lighting and transport on campus and appropriate security measures would go a long way in ensuring safe spaces for women.
UGC had identified the problem of lack of funds for Women Development Cells/Women's Studies Centres and recommended separate funding to allow colleges to meet mandatory requirements to end gender-based violence and harassment, set up Gender Sensitization Unit and organise workshops and short-term courses on gender sensitisation. However, any fruitful progress on the matter has been lacking. Only one student out of all those who answered the questionnaire admitted that their college had an active Women Development Cell.
By addressing the root causes of harassment and violence, implementing comprehensive prevention strategies, and regularly assessing their effectiveness, universities can take significant strides toward building an inclusive and secure environment.
This story has been written as part of the My City Writers’ Training Program.