Press Release, 21.11.2013

The recent tragedy of Pavitra Baradwaj followed by complaints of sexual harassment by Ms. Aruna Kumar of ARSD College against the OSD brought forth the fact that even after 15 years of Vishakha Judgement, which mandated institutions to address the problems of sexual harassment at the place of work, the institutions have failed to deliver justice in these cases. Delhi University, which adopted Ordinance XV-D a decade ago, has failed to ensure proper implementation of the  Ordinance. The DUTA has decided to take a pro active stand on the matter and to work towards proper implementation of the Ordinance. As a first step, the DUTA organised a Workshop on the implementation of Ordinance XV(D) in Delhi University on Tuesday, 19th November, in which teachers from  more than 16 colleges and several University departments participated.

The Workshop began with a presentation by Dr. Janaki Abraham from the Department of Sociology who recounted the context in which the Policy against Sexual Harassment was adopted in Delhi University and the processes that led to the framing of Ordinance XV-D. This was followed by a presentation by Mukul Manglik of the Gender Forum of Ramjas College highlighting the fact that Ordinance XV-D came into existence in Delhi University through a democratic process and that the awareness of gender issues must be an integral part of the work of Gender Sensitization Committees (GSCs) in colleges. He also stressed that questions of tradition, caste, community, family, religion are bound to come up in relation to discussions on patriarchy and gender and must be confronted and debated freely.

This was followed by interventions by participants from different colleges who shared positive experiences of empowerment of different sections of the university community and also discussed the problems in implementation of the Ordinance, mainly the improper constitution of the Complaints Committees in many colleges, undue interference in the functioning of the Complaints Committees (CCs) leading to an erosion in their autonomy, the lack of adequate infrastructural support to the CCs in various colleges, the misuse of the Ordinance by persons in authority and the lack of awareness campaigns for effective implementation of the Ordinance.

It was decided that the DUTA would take up the matter with the Apex Committee and send a list of suggestions given by various participants to urge it to play a more pro-active role in not only monitoring the functioning of the GSCs and CCs but also ensure the correct enforcement of the Ordinance and check violations.

It was also decided to draw up a list of resource material like films, etc. which could be used by GSCs in the campaign for gender awareness as well as a list of scholars, lawyers and activists who could be invited for such campaigns and as external members on CCs.

It was also decided that the DUTA would organize more such workshops to take forward the work of gender sensitization and to prevent the subversion of a policy which is essentially empowering in nature for large sections of the university community.