JNU teachers slam working of sexual harassment probe panel

A group of JNU teachers has taken issue with the working of the varsity's panel for probing sexual harassment cases, alleging that its "processes are perverted".
The charge today came even as JNU's Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) sought to make a clarification about DCW data which says that the prestigious institution has seen the highest number of such cases for a Delhi varsity since 2013.
The group of teachers at Jawaharlal Nehru University also alleged that the confidentiality with regards to complaints is being "blatantly violated", leading to defamation of complainants and the putting of their integrity on "public trial".

Sexual harassment complaints at JNU are probed by GSCASH, which was instituted in 1999 under the Vishakha guidelines of Supreme Court.
Demanding that JNU be a "gender-sensitive and gender-just" campus, a group of teachers has written an open letter to the varsity administration seeking their intervention to improve the functioning of GSCASH.
"In the current scenario, confidentiality with regards to complaints enquired into by the GSCASH is blatantly violated by some teacher representatives. Some of them assume that a 'struggle for the rights of teachers' can entail victim- blaming and defamation of complainants," they claimed.

Pointing to further alleged irregularities, the teachers'

group said, "The processes of GSCASH are perverted by some teachers' campaigns on unfounded allegations of procedural infirmity. Persons charged with (or found guilty of) sexual harassment/violence serve in statutory bodies and as teacher representatives."
The eight-point letter added, "We stand for a campus atmosphere in which the health, and freedom of complainants is always primary and the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19(1)(g) of the Indian Constitution 'to carry on any occupation, trade or profession' are realised through the provision of a safe working environment for all."
GSCASH chairperson Anuradha Banerjee refused to comment on the allegations by the teachers' group, which includes noted varsity professors Ayesha Kidwai, Brinda Bose, Chirashree Dasgupta, Janaki Nair, Nivedita Menon, Urmimala Sarkar and Vikas Bajpai.

Meanwhile, GSCASH representatives today came out with a statement following the Delhi Commission for Women report that the highest number of sexual harassment cases for a varsity in Delhi in the last two years were reported in JNU.
"The idea that the JNU campus is the only place where highest numbers of such cases are encountered on a daily basis is without basis. We as a university have an established, free and fair committee against sexual harassment, unlike other universities.
"The committee engages and encourages the community to file such cases in a confidential manner, without engaging unwanted attention and speculation at the same time," GSCASH said in a statement here.

According to a DCW report on sexual harassment cases reported from different universities in Delhi, the highest number of such cases, at 50 per cent of the overall number, was reported in JNU.