Amid the ongoing protests at The English and Foreign Language University (EFLU), Hyderabad, against the sexual assault incident on campus, a talk on 'Gender Stereotypes and Language' by Prof N Vasanty, a faculty member of the NALSAR University of Law, was held at the institute, organised by the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the institute.
However, the existence of this ICC was questioned by a student of EFLU on Friday, November 3, when the talks were held.
In a video from the talk organised by the institute, shared by Instagram page @eflu.sc, a student was heard saying, “This talk is organised by an Internal Complaint Committee. I regret to inform you that there is in fact, no functional ICC at EFLU. As you are aware, under UGC regulations, every ICC must have elected student representatives in order to investigate a student case. Such a case happened over two weeks ago. The student was sexually assaulted and beaten unconscious on campus. Still, she was unable to file a complaint with the ICC because there isn’t one.”
As per the Instagram story shared by the same handle, the professor denied commenting on the same.
The student went on to say that several students have been facing similar ordeals of sexual harassment from persons in power at the university but have been unable to file a complaint due to the absence of a functional ICC.
The students at EFLU have been protesting for the reconstitution of the sexual harassment committee SPARSH (Sensitisation, Prevention, and Redressal of Sexual Harassment) as well as an Internal Complaints Committee at the institute.
The protests at the institute escalated when one of the students who participated in the protest was sexually assaulted on the campus, leading to concerns about student safety on the campus.
