The paths of knowledge and intellect in Manasagangotri, where once advocates of literary, art and science trod upon, are slowly turning into mere roads where all the noble ideas of the architects of the University have turned into mere dust. The Mysore University is caught in accusations of sexual harassment and casteism. Though harassment to women students is not new in the Varsity, it is shocking that a woman research student went to the extent of attempting suicide allegedly unable to bear the mental torment meted out to her by her Professor and Research Guide.
Only last year, a Journalism Professor of the University who faced sexual harassment charges was transferred back into his parent department after mere warning and a comment on service register. If he is going to serve the same department till retirement, such comments and warning will do no good and will only help in convincing the guilty that his actions will go unpunished, encouraging him to commit more such actions.
Out of the 26 cases of sexual harassment registered with the Women Harassment Complaints Committee of the University, not even one case has seen its logical end; with none of the guilty being punished or booked. Such uncaring attitude of the University in letting off the guilty easily naturally causes fear and hesitation in the victims of sexual harassment, to come forward and complain. The other important matter that is being overlooked by the University authorities in such cases is victim protection. As there is rarely any protection given to the victims of sexual harassments, the women fear retribution.
A group of women students in the Sociology Department of the Delhi University conducted a study on sexual harassment in 1996. The results were shocking - about 92 per cent of women interviewed, reported of being sexually harassed during their campus life. The landmark Vishaka judgement of the Supreme Court not only identified the consequences of "sexual" harassment on the individual victim, but also recognised its debilitating effects on the entire communtiy.
A Professor was beaten up by students in the Government Agriculture College, Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh yesterday on molestation charges. At a place where a teacher is seen as akin to parents and god, a situation should not arise where students take up the matter of punishing the guilty into their own hands.
Hence, the solution to sexual harassment in Universities should not only be creating awareness in girl students about the need to come out bravely and speak up against the harassment they suffered, but also creation of an 'autonomous' committee which foresees such complaints and acts without pressure from within the University or outside. This will not only bring the guilty, whether it is the accuser or the accused, to book, but also create a sense of safety in the students.
Above all, a knowledge centre such as a University should be a safe place for a woman, who enthusiastically comes in pursuit of knowledge. Just advocating girl education on stage and through various schemes and failing to create a safe place for women at the centres of education will result in defeating the very concept of education.
