NEW DELHI, March 31 -- In an incident on the night of March 30-31, four individuals allegedly severely harassed female students along Ring Road within the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) premises, despite the presence of security personnel.

During an interview with Millennium Post, the survivor revealed that after filing a complaint, security confiscated her ID card. However, it was reported that when authorities apprehended the vehicle belonging to the perpetrators, their ID cards were not confiscated.

Despite multiple inquiries, the Chief Security Officer (CSO) adamantly refused to disclose the ID card information of the perpetrators, prompting concerns regarding preferential treatment and transparency in the case's handling.

JNUSU expressed outrage via a public statement at the blatant disregard for the safety and dignity of students, denouncing the incident as a stark manifestation of the pervasive issue of sexual harassment within the institution.

Subsequent investigations conducted by Millennium Post have substantiated that following the decision made by Vice Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar and the JNU administration to disband the Gender Sensitization Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) during an executive council meeting in September 2017, citing UGC guidelines, the implementation of sensitisation workshops has dramatically dwindled, almost to non-existence.

This change saw the establishment of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), predominantly staffed by administrative officials, replacing the previous

structure. Students have

repeatedly expressed their challenges in navigating the ICC for specific grievances, contrasting it with the student-representative model of GSCASH, which they found more effective.

They have raised concerns regarding the perceived leniency of the administration and security personnel in

addressing such delicate matters.

In a conversation with Millennium Post, Priyanshi Arya, General Secretary of JNUSU, firmly opposed normalising egregious behavior or shielding perpetrators from accountability. She criticised the ICC for failing to deliver justice since the dissolution of GSCASH and highlighted the urgent need for collective action against campus harassment's underlying patriarchal structures.

In response to the incident, JNUSU also organised a protest demonstration on March 31, 2024, at 9 pm at Sabarmati Dhaba. The demonstration aimed to demand the reinstatement of the Gender

Sensitization Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) and reject the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC).

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.