When a promised General Body Meeting (GBM) by the college principal on the recent sexual harassment of students at Delhi University's (DU) Indraprastha College for Women (IPCW) did not take place, the students decided to conduct their own GBM today, April 5. In the meeting held at 11 in the morning, the students decided to organise another protest tomorrow, April 6, and voices were raised against the committee set up by the administration to probe the incident.
Demands for principal's resignation raised again
In a statement, the students from IPCW wrote, "We reject the scam of independent committee." Explaining the same, Abhigyan, Delhi State President of All India Students' Association (AISA), said that the committee does not have any members from the student community. "Without any student representation, the committee is incompetent, it lacks accountability and the trust of students," the statement reads. The document further alleges that the committee has not taken into account any of the students' demands.
The students demand the resignation of IPCW Principal Poonam Kumria for not being able to maintain security on campus. However, the said committee has the principal as one of the members, along with Professor Prakash Singh and Proctor Rajni Abbi, who the students allege are known to be close with Kumria.
They are also not happy with the manner in which the probe into the incident is being conducted. Anjali, Secretary of DU AISA, who was also a core member of today's GBM, says, "Police have been visiting the campus every day and students are being asked to submit visuals and written representations of the incident. Today, police are standing at the gate and every student is once again being asked to submit written representations. We have already submitted 243 representations. Being asked again and again feels like harassment."
Ordeal of the students
Anjali narrates further that a student has undergone Orthopaedic surgery, having injured her femur bone in the incident, while many students who have been subject to sexual harassment want to remain anonymous. "But the police and administration are making them speak about the same things over and over again. We approached the Dean of Students Welfare on April 3 in this regard, but received no help. Then we decided not to undergo such treatment anymore, as it is a means of just distracting and exhausting the students," Anjali states.
"We demand student representative in the committee otherwise we the IP students won't cooperate with a committee that is formed just to provide a gateway to the principal," the students' statement reads. They have decided to hold a protest march tomorrow at 12 noon, from IPCW to the Arts Faculty.
"With this protest, we want to show our solidarity. We want to show that we are mobilised and will stand together against injustice. We have appealed to students from all the DU colleges to participate," says Abhigyan. He mentions that the matter involves the whole university because women students have been subject to much harassment lately.
"During Holi, the girls were locked up in their hostels citing security reasons, and after the IPCW incident, the fest in Gargi College is being cancelled," he elaborated. Speaking about the issue, Anjali said, "Cutting off the evening fest events in the name of security is no solution. The security should be ramped up instead to prevent such incidents."
