Bengaluru: The recent decision of a university student to speak of alleged sexual harassment on campus on a website has turned the spotlight on the lack of a proper channel to raise such issues in most colleges.
Although most institutions claim to have Anti-Sexual Harassment Committees in place, in reality they are used to oppress the voice of students rather than protect them, claim students and activists.
“If you visit any college/ university website you can see the committee details. It has representatives from the students’ fraternity too. But till now no college committee has taken up even one crime against a girl student,” said Saroja Bhat, an adolescent counsellor. “Every time, these girls end up either speaking to counsellors or approaching the police,” she rued.
“These committees are headed by the seniormost woman on the faculty of the institute and so we find it hard to raise issues without threat of exposure. And most of the time these committees end up offering a compromise formula.
Centralised committees in each city/ district with representatives from all the stakeholders could work better,” said Rajesheari Math L, a MSW student.
