Eflu students find support from other varsities, NGOs, trans persons and faculty
Hyderabad: Protesting students of the English and Foreign Languages University (Eflu), over the lack of student representation in redressing sexual harassment claims and a subsequent rape attempt on the campus, were joined by student bodies from other varsities, as well as members of the transgender community.
As the police detained the protesting students inside the campus, students were outraged, questioning action on a peaceful demonstration. Eflu students said around 20 students from the University of Hyderabad and Osmania University were also detained. Further, 30 faculty members also joined students in their protest, they said.
The ongoing protests seek the constitution of a SPARSH (Sensitisation, Prevention and Redressal of Sexual Harassment) committee. The protests intensified after a female student was sexually assaulted on the campus around 10 pm on October 18.
Further, students questioned the validity of a report into the incident filed by the Eflu administration, as the internal complaints committee that filed the report did not have a student representative, despite UGC guidelines mandating the same.
On Monday, protesting students also claimed a conspiracy by the varsity to protect the culprit and called for the Vice Chancellor to resign if norms were not being complied with.
Around 1 pm, hundreds of students flooded the campus with placards calling for action. Transgender persons from the National Network for Trans People joined the protest, albeit standing outside the Eflu gates. Many NGOs also joined in later in the day.
Uday Sri, advocacy officer for the trans network, said, “The delay in this case clearly shows the administration and the government are trying to sideline the case.”
A faculty member, requesting anonymity, said: “There is the angle of threatening the student community as this assault took place on the day there was a talk scheduled by an organization on Palestinian literature. The management saw to it that ‘Palestine – prospective on literary resistance by BAFAQI student union’ event did not take place.”
The faculty member said, “The careless attitude of the management was evident, as the Proctor filed a case against 11 students who accompanied the victim to the police station.”
“To defuse the ongoing protests on the campus, a vacation was declared from October 20 to 29. After reopening, another case against at least four students was registered on Wednesday, for wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, and atrocities against persons with disabilities,” the faculty member said.
