4 out of 5 DU students attribute unsafe campuses to unresponsive authorities

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Jawaharlal Nehru University to initiate a probe against its professor Atul Johri, on charges of sexual harassment, while questioning the vice-chancellor’s inaction in the matter. It may be recalled that JNU students had to protest outside Vasant Kunj Police Station on March 19 before the police finally agreed to file an FIR in the case.

Against this backdrop come startling findings from a National Students Union of India (NSUI) survey in Delhi University. NSUI conducted a field survey in 24 colleges spread across Delhi University, among a total of 810 (736 female and 74 male) students. The survey claims that almost 80% of the student respondents attributed unresponsiveness of the varsity’s administration as a key reason for unsafe campuses. Again, 80% of students imputed ‘police apathy’ as a reason for the same.

The survey aimed at ascertaining “how safe or unsafe the students of Delhi University feel in spaces where they live and engage in academic pursuits”, therefore each respondent was asked whether he or she was personally subjected to any sexual harassment or not.

While one out of four subjects claimed they have been victims of sexual offence, 10% of the respondents chose not to respond to the question. Hence, at least 188 of them accepted to have been subjected to the trauma. The survey also certified that 6% (12 students) faced pressure to not report the offence.

NSUI also revealed that 69% of the respondents did not feel safe while travelling in Delhi, while 7% did not feel safe even when they were inside their colleges. Around 31% of female students felt unsafe while being inside the university campus.

“It is almost a fact that women do not feel safe in this country and university campuses are no different,” Neeraj Mishra of NSUI told NH. “In the regime of ‘Beti bachao, Beti padhao’, one out of four betis in one of the top education institutions have been subjected to sexual violence. If this is the condition in Delhi University, what must be happening in other universities across the country?” he asked. “Precisely to show a mirror, NSUI chose DU as the pilot project.”

“Taking the report from classes to classes in the campus, we will mobilise a crowd for a protest rally on May 1, demanding immediate formation of Internal Complaints Committee across colleges, students’ participation in the committee and the installation of CCTVs inside the campus, as per the UGC guidelines,” Ruchi Gupta, Joint Secretary of All India Congress Committee and the NSUI in-charge told NH.