ICC for Sexual Harassment at Jadavpur University, Kolkata has not submitted the report of the ICC inquiry on accused student, says complainant. More than 80 days have passed since the inquiry started. The sexual harassment act requires the committee to submit its report within 90 days.
Meanwhile in Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, the Academic Council [AC] of the institute has decided that the students accused of sexual harassment will be allowed to complete their courses and be back on campus. They wouldn’t be allowed back in the hostel not because of the charges of sexual harassment on them but because they had exceeded the time allowed by the institute to be in the hostel, the student representatives were told by Director Debamitra Mitra. The Council refused to stay the matter even when the students pointed out that the complainants and witnesses were still on campus and there was going to be a direct threat if the accused students were brought back.
This move is extremely unusual in the light of the fact that SRFTI had constituted an additional ICC to look into student complaints. This is unheard of and illegal, since every institute constitutes one ICC to look into all complaints of sexual harassment as per the law. Secretary, I&B, Ajay Mittal had stated unequivocally that this matter had to be rectified immediately earlier this year. Three student complainants said that they had been harassed by the second ICC which looked into complaints against students during inquiry.
For sexual harassment complainants at Kolkata’s two premiere institutes of learning, there seems to be no respite from harassment.
Comments
Post a Comment