Now, panels to deal with harassment at UT colleges

Students pledging not to harass women in any way may soon become a norm at city colleges. Following a recent Supreme Court ruling, the UT administration is in the process of revamping its system for lodging complaints of harassment, both mental and sexual, at colleges in the city.

Students pledging not to harass women in any way may soon become a norm at city colleges. Following a recent Supreme Court ruling, the UT administration is in the process of revamping its system for lodging complaints of harassment, both mental and sexual, at colleges in the city.

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Senior officials in the administration say though there is already a system in place to deal with such complaints, the SC ruling made it mandatory for all educational institutes to have committees to deal with cases of harassment.

UT adviser KK Sharma said that under the new system, colleges will have to ensure that students and teachers know who to approach to file a complaint of harassment. "Colleges will be asked to print information regarding such committees on their prospectuses. They will be asked to advertise the committees in all possible manners. Our aim is to ensure complete safety of both women employees and girl students," Sharma said.

UT Administration is also planning to conduct several workshops, which would be mandatory for boys and girls to attend. Director (higher education) (DHE) Gurpreet Sapra said she had met college counsellors and lecturers. "Our aim is that such cases should not happen at all. For this, our unanimous decision is to hold lots of workshops."