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Delhi: JNU session on sexual harassment draws flak from students, teachers
Many said the public invitation posted on JNU website trivialised sexual harassment by reducing it to “banter” and also placed the onus of harassment on women
A public invitation for a counselling session on sexual harassment issued by the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has come in for heavy criticism from students and faculty who claimed that the language trivialised the issue.
The invite, which is available on the university’s website, outlines the details of the event scheduled for January 17.
“In addition to its usual course of action, ICC, JNU would like to introduce A COUNSELLING SESSION, on a monthly basis, for all aspiring students who wants to know DOS and DO NOT’S in regard of sexual harassment (sic),” the invite reads.
Flagging objections with the notice, several students and teachers said that one of the lines under the subhead “Why is this counselling session required?” trivialised sexual harassment by reducing it to “banter”, and another line placed the onus of harassment on women.
“Boys generally cross (sometimes advertently) the thin line between friendship’s bantering and sexual harassment (sic),” reads one of the pointers under the former subhead. Another pointer reads: “Girls suppose to know how to draw a tangible line (between them and their male friends) to avoid any such harassments (sic).”
In a Facebook post, JNU professor Ayesha Kidwai said that the invitation showed why women did not want to approach the ICC, saying that they feared being punished themselves.
“In its assessment, the line between sexual harassment and ‘boys being boys’ is so thin, that the benefit of the doubt whether it was ‘advertently’ crossed has to be given to them even in this short notice in advance,” she said.
She said that one of the points listed in the notice implied that women were “asking for harassment”. “So, if a woman complains to the ICC, then the onus is on her to prove that she did draw that lakshman rekha dark enough,” wrote Kidwai.
She said that the notice demonstrated how the loss of Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment -- the predecessor to ICC -- has effectively silenced all discussion of sexual harassment on the JNU campus. She added that the ICC and its supposed awareness programmes had created an atmosphere that was “virulently hostile to sexual harassment being seen as misconduct, a human rights violation, and a blatant exercise of patriarchal and hierarchical power in the workplace”.
JNUSU vice-president Saket Moon too said that the language of the notice placed the onus of sexual harassment on women. Moon said that the ICC had not engaged with any gender sensitisation programmes in the past two years and had become more or less defunct.
“Sexual harassment is being seen as bantering. The implication is that it’s not something serious and is something that has been done inadvertently. In the past also, we have seen how remarks have been made against complainants who have approached the ICC,” said Moon.
In a written statement, student group AISA said that the notice “exposes the attitude of victim-blaming which the ICC has been practicing.” “This counselling session is a sham and will only lead to making JNU an unsafe space for women,” the statement said.
JNU officials did not respond to requests seeking comment.
