Damayanti

Fergusson College

flounder

As a first-year student, I did not even know what was wrong with the system. But I know now that It definitely needs to be more accessible, more accountable, and far more transparent — Meena Kulkarni

The #MeToo movement brought a vital issue to the forefront — that reporting sexual assault or harassment continues to be a traumatic ordeal for survivors.In India, while laws pertaining to rape became more stringent and committees and other redressal mechanisms were purportedly set up, there is little change in the on-ground reality. Most educational institutions, despite orders from the University Grants Commission (UGC), seem to have done little to equip students to cope with harassment.Apart from tackling complaints with both efficiency and sensitivity, it is the institution’s responsibility to hold gender sensitisation sessions and ensure that its students are safe on campus, as also comfortable in case they need to report incidents that occurred off-campus, too.Mirror took a look at whether these laws are being followed in the city, and whether students are made aware of redressal systems in their colleges. Meena Kulkarni (19) was a firstyear student in a prominent city college last year, when a sports coach touched her inappropriately and made lewd comments to a few other girls in her class. When she approached the redressal body in her college, she was told that she could file an official complaint or say it off the record.“The difference between the two was never explained,” she said. Unaware of the complete procedure and the rights she was entitled to, she decided not to go on record. The coach was reproached personally, and subsequently, her anonymity was compromised. Being on the same campus as the perpetrator, she started feeling anxious about being anywhere alone.Aside from a few numbers on a handbook, she said, she had no knowledge of the redressal mechanism, and there was no official attempt to train students about the same. “As a first-year student, I did not even know what was wrong with the system,” she said. Studying in Delhi at present, she shared that her college in Pune felt much safer compared to many other institutions in the country. But, she asserted that things could be majorly improved by following the UGC mandate more carefully. “It needs to be more accessible, more accountable, and far more transparent,” she said.Ranjana Menon (20), a secondyear at, was raped by a male student from another college in the city, around a month ago. Although she initially consented, at some point, she realised she did not want to go further. She told him multiple times that she wanted him to stop, but according to her “he pretended or thought that I was just playing hard to get”. After this went on for nearly 20 minutes, she broke down. “To make me feel better, he hugged and kissed me,” she said, adding, “He had no idea that he was in the wrong.”Menon did not want to complain, which in this case would have to be to the police, even though her friends were supportive. She was not ready for the emotional toll that it would take on her. Afraid of being discredited because of having consented initially, she says that even if the boy had been from her own college, she probably wouldn’t have complained for fear of moral judgement. Later, when she spoke to her female friends about the incident, she found that almost all of them had had similar experiences, and none of them had complained either.Though this happened off-campus, Menon had nowhere to turn even within the supposed safe space of her college. There are no redressal mechanisms that she is aware of. In her two years at FC, she has not seen any notices or received official correspondence about any designated body that she could have approached for counsel. On the other hand, there are boards for anti-ragging and anti-bullying committees and notices about female police officers all across campus. But, there have been no gender sensitisation or proactive measures taken by the college, and Menon was unsure about how they would react to complaints.Priya Singh (22), who is now in her final year, was in her first year of college when she was harassed by a male batchmate. She had gone to a party thrown by her peers, and did not know a lot of people there. After just two drinks, she started feeling unusually inebriated and suspects that her drinks had been spiked. All she remembered afterwards was being alone with a guy she barely knew, and him making vastly explicit comments that she did not like.She knew immediately that what had happened was wrong, and told someone that she wanted to take action. However, almost immediately, she started facing backlash from all the people at the party, who were afraid of their parents finding out that they had been drinking. “I got at least three threatening calls a day, and faced constant harassment,” she recalled. Her college, too, had made it a point to declare its “zero tolerance policy” towards alcohol, and she was afraid to approach the principal — the only channel of redressal she knew of — for fear of judgement. The pressure took a toll on her, and she harboured suicidal thoughts for almost six months. “The issue itself was not as hurtful as the aftermath, which battered me emotionally,” she said.Singh says that in terms of redressal mechanisms, there is nothing except a list of numbers that students in her college are given. There is no active effort on the college’s part, and often, students don’t find out about the redressal cell until their second or third year. In the absence of official channels, the student council has tried to create a ‘safe space’ of sorts, where students can approach them and get help with filing complaints. Of course, questions about the credibility of this body to deal with cases of this sort still remain.Singh says that on speaking with other female students, she found that although the intensities were different, almost everyone she knew had faced something like this at some point, and often with men they knew. “Our education system has not taught us what consent means. Boys you date in college assume you are always sexually available to them, and that you should be. Most only understand consent when it comes to obvious cases of physical coercion and rape,” she rued.The only way to improve the situation, she emphasised, is for colleges to have gender sensitisation training for their students as soon as they enter the first year. Other than that, support groups and safe spaces for survivors are important in order to create a culture where students feel safe about reporting sexual harassment.Anuradha Dutt (19), a student of MIT ADT, recently found out that one of her female friends had been molested by a common male friend. All from the same college, they were staying over at an empty flat after an evening out, and were sharing a bed due to lack of space. “The guy, although not drunk himself, thought she wouldn't remember because of her inebriation,” Dutt said.While Dutt and the rest of her friends took the survivor’s side and encouraged her to file a complaint, she was unwilling to do so because she was afraid of the moral judgment that would come her way for the circumstances under which she was molested. Dutt is not aware of the existence of any sexual harassment redressal mechanisms in her college, either.As collegeson setting up redressal forums and counselling spaces, students are barely aware of their rights in such situations and have nowhere to turn for comfort and direction. Considering that for most, college is an initial stepping stone to the adult world, it seems that this must be urgently remedied.