The alumni and Students' Collective of The English and Foreign Language University (EFLU), Hyderabad, have written to President of India Droupadi Murmu seeking a formal investigation into the sexual assault of a female student. This letter seeking justice for the survivor comes after the students have noticed lapses from the administration's side when it comes to dealing with the situation.
To recall, on October 16, EFLU students initiated a peaceful protest demanding the reconstitution of the sexual harassment committee SPARSH (Sensitisation, Prevention, and Redressal of Sexual Harassment), and reservation for an LGBTQ candidate in the cell. Following this, on October 18, a student who participated in the protest was sexually assaulted by two unidentified men on the campus premises around 10 pm. As per students, "The administration demonstrated gross negligence and incompetence in empathetically dealing with the situation."
Although protests are being staged, the students are of the view that the administration has failed to meet the mandate to ensure the safety of its students. Highlighting why they think so, the letter stated, "The administration has fallen short of its competency in delivering its responsibilities". Seeking justice for the survivor, students mention 12 points in an open letter to the president.
Open letter to president
As per the letter, since the incident happened, the vice-chancellor "has shown an active history of leaving student gatherings and grievances unaddressed." Additionally, both the VC and the Proctorial office have failed to take accountability. "The Proctor as well as the Registrar showed abject insensitivity in their treatment of this whole incident." While the proctor dismissed the assault as a 'small issue', the registrar demanded to publicly seek the victim's identity as against the right of survivor to anonymity, it added.
Further, the students in the letter said that the administration escalated the situation by involving police who manhandled them and threatened the students with detainment and prosecution. "An FIR was filed with great prejudice by the Proctor, Prof. T Samson, against 11 students who were in the forefront of the protest for constituting a democratically elected SPARSH," they said, adding that one student was not present on the campus.
Moreover, it is said that the administration has been trying to, "Push the narrative that the protests happening on the evening of 18th October, 2023 was a “Pro Palestine protest”. However, the fact of the matter is that the protest was regarding the right of students to access campus spaces." Further clarifying about the protest, they said "A discussion titled "Palestine: Perspectives of Literary Resistance" was scheduled to be held by a reading group," but was cancelled due to lack of permission. Despite informing about the cancellation to the proctor, deputy proctor and DSW (Dean of Student Welfare), police were called to the campus citing “violation of Election Code of Conduct” to vacate the New Academic Block (NAB) premises, they said.
"The protests at NAB in the early evening of 18th October were in relation to the access of Campus spaces to the students who were forced to vacate the NAB premises at 5:30 pm, while the discussion was scheduled at 7:00pm," the letter added. Additionally, two female faculty members were defamed by the Proctor in his FIR statement, it added. The students said in the letter that the faculty members were called by the "Proctor himself on the demand of the survivor, to ensure the survivor's mental and emotional well-being as well as scrutinize the CCTV footage since the students placed their mistrust in the current proctorial board."
"We further condemn the Telangana Police’s communal statement questioning the intent of one of the faculty members based on her religious identity," it added, highlighting, "No substantial investigation has been done so far regarding the case, neither by the police nor the administration."
Further, as per the letter, the VC was quoted in The Hindu saying that the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) has conducted the inquiry, submitted the report and the police investigation is underway. However, the students say that the current ICC does not have three elected representatives from the student body, as mandated by the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines. Additionally, "The latest circular on ICC released by the university, mentions Prof. Anjali V. Bagde as the presiding officer of the ICC."
As per the letter, she is the Head of the French and Francophone Department, as well as the Dean of the School of European Languages. This is in violation of regulation 4.3 as persons in senior administrative positions in Higher Educations Institutions (HEIs) shall not be the members of ICC. Another concern is that the survivor has not received any copy of the report and has no information about the investigation by the ICC.
"Due to the aforementioned reasons, we are skeptical about the nature of the investigation and we would like to put forth the demand for a fair re-investigation and re-constitution of ICC, with three elected student representatives, as mandated in the UGC Guidelines," the students demand.
Stressing that the university did not have an effective and active student redressal platform SPARSH for years (since 2020), this fact compelled the students to stage a two-day-long peaceful protest. The letter highlighted that the Proctor Prof T Samson addressed the students' gathering on October 16 and said SPARSH body is being constituted. "In case of a SPARSH body in place, which already met with the students' demand, we fail to interpret as to why the administration did not communicate the same as a reply to repeated petitions regarding the same," the letter highlighted.
"The absence of student grievance redressal mechanisms and the lack of a democratically elected student union (since 2020) has been a major factor behind the administration’s repeated arm-twisting tactics and coercion," the letter read and stated the "collective demand for the resignation of the Vice-Chancellor and the Proctorial board."
Requesting the president to initiate a formal investigation "against the severe lapse in security and dereliction of duty on the administration’s end", the students seek justice for the survivor and all 11 students and the faculty involved in the case.
The letter has over 459 signatories.
