DU has no data of sexual harassment plaints in colleges: DCW

Delhi University had received 13 complaints of sexual harassment since 2013 even as it claimed

Delhi University had received 13 complaints of sexual harassment since 2013 even as it claimed that it did not have any data of complaints received by its 67 affiliated colleges, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal said on Saturday.

DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal. (HT File Photo)

Delhi University officials, however, maintained that every college has their independent Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) which is not supposed to share the data with the university.

“DU has submitted a report of the sexual harassment complaints received by it since 2013. According to DU, 13 complaints were received out of which 4 were not under the university’s purview. “It is unfortunate that if DU can have data about the scholarships in its colleges, it should also have data about such serious complaints. We will now write to individual colleges to submit their data,” Maliwal said.

DCW had in August this year directed 23 universities and educational institutions in the national capital to submit details of their sexual harassment committees and status of complaints registered with them so far.

While all other institutions had submitted the data last month with JNU reporting the maximum number of cases, DU registrar was summoned by DCW this week about non-submission of the data.

“The university officials had appeared before DCW this week to submit the data sought by them. As far as the data of complaints received by affiliated colleges is concerned, they are governed by their respective governing bodies and have independent ICCs. “The data shall be provided to DCW directly by the colleges,” a senior university official said.