53% JNU women face sexual harassment, says survey

After an internal study revealed that 53 per cent of women in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) face sexual harassment, the varsity which has India’s most liberal campus is likely to set up a Women’s Resource and Advocacy Collective (WRAAC), and conduct gender-orientation programmes and courses soon.

These measures were recommended by a 10-member committee that was set up in the wake of an axe attack on a student inside the campus on July 31. The attacker, the student’s spurned lover, later committed suicide.

The recent study on sexual harassment within the campus was conducted and
compiled by professor Ayesha Kidwai of the Centre of Linguistics and professor Madhu Sahni of the Centre of German Studies through an online anonymous questionnaire.

Of the 529 students who participated in the study, 21 per cent one in every five declared themselves to be in an abusive relationship  According to the study, 53 per cent of the women stated that they had to face sexual harassment ‘once in a while.’ And 96 per cent of the respondents were upset over the July 31 incident, which triggered a widespread debate on ‘gender sensitisation’ in the university, which is considered to be one of the safest place for women in the capital.

Professor Sudhir Kumar Sopory, the vice-chancellor of the university, in an interaction with dna earlier, asserted that the varsity was committed to bringing in reforms in the wake of the panel’s recommendations, wherever and whenever necessary. The committee had submitted a 21-page report in September this year, after which various faculty members were asked to chalk out a detailed course of action to implement the recommendations.

“The study should not be taken in a negative sense. It reflects that JNU is a place that is ready to accept its problems and work out solutions by open discussion and debate,” said professor Kidwai, adding, “It only strengthens the need to implement the recommendations of the committee immediately.”

According to the recommendations report, the WAARC will serve many purposes such as functioning as a crisis centre and safe haven from violence. it would also provide counselling facilities. It read that existing courses on gender and discrimination should be widely publicised and new courses should be designed in a variety of ways and different centres should come up with modules. The committee also recommended strengthening the existing Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment and treating it as part of the JNU administration.