---
layout: post
title: "OGLE NOT OGRE"
category: coverstory
tags: [wona]
image: ogle_not_ogre1.png
excerpt: "Like most IITs, the Roorkee campus has also been paraded and celebrated as being a safe haven where students could go about their everyday activities in peace without worrying about their safety. However, recent events beg to differ. There has been a rise in the number of catcalling incidents being brought to light on campus."
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Like most IITs, the Roorkee campus has also been paraded and celebrated as being a safe haven where students could go about their everyday activities in peace without worrying about their safety. However, recent events beg to differ. There has been a rise in the number of catcalling incidents being brought to light on campus.
Catcalling, a type of sexual harassment, is the act of shouting harassing and often sexually suggestive, threatening, or derisive comments at someone publicly. Sexual Harassment, by definition, is behaviour characterized by the making of unwelcome and inappropriate sexual remarks or physical advances.
While even one incident of catcalling should be enough to bring light to the matter, according to a survey conducted by Watch Out!, there have been at least 12 incidents of catcalling on campus. These incidents seem to occur frequently on the road from the Fountain to Kasturba Bhawan and the road from Jawahar Bhawan to Gate No. 5 from 6 PM to 2 AM.
During the online semesters, many online locker room incidents have also happened. These incidents further perpetuate and rationalize sexually indecent behavior. Online locker-room incidents are social media group chats made for the sole purpose of objectifying women and passing lewd, explicit comments over their photos (shared without consent). Once the campus starts opening up its doors to the same students, they feel like they are justified in their inappropriate behaviour in an offline setting as well.
#### **Testimonials**
“I was walking from Rajiv Bhawan to Kasturba Bhawan at around 11 in the morning and a white car sped past me and the driver was honking and shouting obscenities at me. It felt weird cause it was on campus in the morning.”
“My friend and I were on our way back to KB from the fountain, around 10 pm, when we were stopped by a man on a bike. He tried to lure us into returning to the fountain, saying that someone there was asking for us. The incident left us both very shaken and for the next few days we were scared to visit the fountain.”
“I was walking in front of Kasturba Bhawan with a guy. There were three men, who might have been workers, constantly staring at me and when I looked at them, they were still staring.
The last guy got out of his vehicle and he started coming up to me. The other two were still staring at me and I started walking ahead. A car passed by and they returned. Then I entered the hostel.”
“I was standing at a spot along the road from Architecture Dept to Vigyan Kunj, at 5 PM in the evening. While I was there, I got catcalled by some men. I immediately walked away, towards Vigyan Kunj.
That stretch is lonely at times, and it's weird walking there alone in late evenings, however, I didn't expect such an incident to take place during daylight hours.”
#### **Existing provisions**
In the event that a female student wants to report any cases of sexual harassment, they can approach the Internal Complaints Committee. Male students can contact the DoSW for the same. Students are further encouraged to report incidents to the nearest guards available immediately after the incident occurs. The Director, Mr. Ajit Chaturvedi, has mentioned that any such incidents of catcalling must be immediately reported to the Security Office/ Control Room using telephone numbers 201/ 01332-28-1181 and that the IITR security could help identify the perpetrators.
The extraordinary Gazette of India, Part - II, dated April 23, 2013 stipulates that every educational institute must have a body that handles cases of sexual harassment- the Internal Complaints Committee (hereafter referred to as the ICC). The ICC functions three-fold in the way that they receive complaints on sexual harassment at the workplace from aggrieved women, inquire into the complaint received and then make recommendations to the employer on the action required pursuant to its inquiry of the complaint made.
The following unwelcome acts are handled by the ICC:
- Physical contact and advances; or
- A demand or request for sexual favours; or
- Making sexually coloured remarks; or
- Showing pornography; or
- Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non‐verbal conduct of sexual nature at the workplace.
The ICC takes in complaints from any women employees, female students or any women residing or visiting on the IITR campus in any capacity. The victim can contact any member of the ICC in person or via telephone/mail/email after which they will have to file a formal complaint addressed to the Presiding Officer, ICC. This must be done within 90 days of the incident in question. The ICC must then conduct an inquiry and submit its report within 90 days. The formal complaint must include
1. Date and time of the incident
2. The place where it occurred
3. Name and contact information of the accused
4. Name and contact information of witnesses
5. Detailed description of the incident
Many people find the ICC hard to approach firstly because of the lack of awareness about such a body and secondly because of the cumbersome process involved in going through with a complaint. The onus to provide proof and contact information of the perpetrator falls on the victim. Most times providing all this information is not possible. There is also a time limit of 90 days after which a complaint may not be registered, placing further constraints on the victim. These are some reasons that many students prefer to not file formal complaints.
\[Link] https://iitr.ac.in/internalcomplaintscommittee/
#### **Situations Elsewhere**
In many other Indian colleges, issues like these are usually reported to members of the student council or HoDs, who then further escalate them until the issue is resolved. Still, various colleges in India, especially the well-respected Government Institutes have similar ineffective methods of handling such issues. Delhi University (DU), for example, has nearly the same procedure of resolving such cases with the only difference being the constitution of the ICC. DU’s ICC requires at least 3 student representatives elected through democratic procedures. In spite of this, DU’s ICC is still an inefficient body that is regularly criticized both by the students and external media bodies.
In colleges outside India, the situation sadly is not that different as well. In Harvard for example, such cases fall under the jurisdiction of the Harvard Law School. The same has mechanisms in place for both an informal and formal resolution. After an initial formal complaint, which is a hassle in itself, there is a review period wherein authorities determine if the incident warrants an investigation. After the review period of about a week, there is an investigation followed by a resolution which should be reached within 60 days of filing of the complaint. While there is not much evidence regarding the efficacy of the system, it is still unlikely that such a system would be any better.
#### **Solutions**
Hence, it is evident that the campus authorities need to put more effort in making the campus a safe place for the community. Some of the measures that authorities could take include: -
- Increasing street lights in areas that currently are not well-lit. These include areas of construction, areas near Govind Bhawan and roads connecting departments.
- Increasing the area under CCTV coverage and maintaining a proper record of the CCTV footage.
- Stationing more guards, especially around places under construction.
- Increasing awareness about the ICC among students and making the ICC more approachable.
- Having democratically elected student female representatives in the ICC. This not only ensures that there is a member representing the side of the students but also increases approachability.
- Properly logging in and out outsiders coming into the campus. Their times of entry and exit along with the purpose of visit must be verified.
- Creating a Women’s Cell that would contain students, professors and administrative staff to provide a physical and digital safe space for women and to make sure that they are more approachable and can better cater to issues of the women student community.