Hyderabad: Students of the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) rapped Proctor T. Samson for filing a complaint against 11 students for allegedly inciting violence, claiming that it was a diversionary tactic by the varsity management to quell protests over an incident of attempted rape that took place on the campus on October 18.
According to the Proctor's complaint, filed on October 19, 11 students instigated about 200 others and ‘fomented violence’ on the campus, after the university administration did not grant permission for an event to discuss pro-Palestine literature. He claimed that students gathered in front of his campus residence with the intent to harm him, causing trauma and stress due to the acts of violence, coercion and disruption of academic and administrative operations.
However, support for students protesting against the university administration on the sexual assault issue continued to pour in.
Several student organisations and colleges put our statements pledging their solidarity and demanding the resignation of the management for poor handling of a case of such gravity. Among those who expressed support were the Students Federation of India, National Students Union of India, Ambedkar Students Union, All India Students Association and student bodies of JNU, TISS, HCU, Jamia Milia and Delhi University.
EFLU alumni also supported the protesters, saying that the VC and the Proctor consistently failed to take accountability, and show remorse or empathy during dire hours.
Protesting students pointed out the defunct state of the SPARSH (Sensitisation, Prevention and Redressal of Sexual Harassment) committee, in violation of UGC guidelines, blaming laxity of the varsity management for leaving victims of sexual harassment without redressal, inadequate distribution of security guards, cameras and floodlights, resulting in certain areas remaining unsupervised and unsafe.
They alleged that the presence of police and security guards during the protest was an intimidatory tactic employed by the administration in its attempts to divert the conversation by releasing a statement concerning an unrelated campus event.
Meanwhile, a Rajya Sabha member from Kerala, Dr V. Sivadasan, of the CPM, wrote to Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Rekha Sharma, chairperson of the National Women's Commission, about the issue.
“Despite this incident of such serious nature, I have been informed that the response from the EFLU administration is not satisfactory... Most seriously, it has to be noted that the incident happened against the backdrop of continuing protests by the students for reconstituting the hitherto-inactive internal committee for gender sanitisation to deal with cases of sexual harassment on campus,” he said in his letter.
He said there was an urgent need to ensure that strong and efficient action is to be taken in this case so that the survivor gets justice and the violators are brought to book.
