An Open Letter to the Delhi University Administration charging it with negligence to provide the <a >rape victim</a> necessary support during police investigation.
We, the undersigned, wish to remind you that the University of Delhi is boundby the Policy on Sexual Harassment (Ordinance XV-D) to institute supportmechanisms to any member of the Delhi University who is raped by any "thirdparty" – i.e., person(s) not belonging to the Delhi University. The survivorof sexual assault must be provided legal and psychological assistanceimmediately.
It has been almost a week before the proctorial office, which doesnot know the identity or whereabouts of the student who was gang-raped in DhaulaKuan last week, offered psychological assistance to the survivor through theDelhi police. While we agree that confidentiality of the survivor, as maintainedby the police is of paramount importance, it is equally important for theUniversity to activate and enable the experts on the "Apex Committee againstSexual Harassment", which has been formed under Ordinance XV-D, to provide thestudent the resources she is entitled to.
The Indian Express has reported that the condition of the student hasdeteriorated to the extent that she has suffered a complete nervous breakdown(IE Newsline May 13th, 2005, p1). This is criminal negligence on the partof the University of Delhi which is now bound by Ordinance XV-D to provide immediatepsychological and legal assistance to any student who undergoes the trauma ofrape by a third party.
The process of identifying the accused itself isextremely traumatic, and the survivor needs to have the support of family and/orfriends, and counsellors lest lasting damage be done to her. We want to know whywas the student not provided psychological and legal assistance duringthe police investigation? We demand an explanation as to why the DelhiUniversity has failed to co-ordinate with the Delhi police on this issue soonafter the incident was reported. Why have the DU administration and Delhi policenot worked out mechanisms of redressal and support to survivors of crimes thatfall under each jurisdiction - state law as well as violations of the policy onsexual harassment?
Apart from immediate intervention, the university is mandated to provide suchstudent with safe accommodation. She must be given all facilities she needs toenable her to continue her education such as migration to another college,hostel seat, special assistance with academic work and tuition waiver or afellowship to support her education. Her safety, in the aftermath of the policecase, must be of paramount importance. In other words, the University is obligedto provide the conditions whereby the student who survives sexual assault cantestify to rape in a court of law without being persecuted. The university isobliged to ensure that her education is not curtailed due to lack of support andassistance in the aftermath of violence.
We urge the Apex Committee against Sexual Harassment, to look into the sexualviolence, which women students from the Northeast face especially since theyare targets of racist and sexist discrimination on an everyday level. Studentsfrom the Northeast are forced to live in areas where rents are low and securityis negligent. They are often marginalised, lacking in resources, and endureeveryday forms of linguistic and social exclusion. This marginalisation andstigmatisation is compounded by the systemic violence against women from theNorth East in Delhi.
The Apex Committee against Sexual Harassment must also take seriously thetask of constituting a task force for evaluating the lack of security for womenstudents.
We demand that you:
1. Intervene immediately in the case of this Northeastern woman student andtake up the issue of criminal negligence and dereliction of duty by the policewith the Delhi administration and the Delhi Police.
2. Give the student all facilities she needs to enable her to continue hereducation such as migration to another college, campus-based accommodation,special assistance with academic work and a fellowship to support her education.
3. Ensure her safety, provide the conditions whereby she can testify to rapein a court of law, should she want to, without being persecuted.
4. Set up different committees for the colleges in North, South, East andWest Delhi in order to collate and redress lapses in security measures that haveled to repeated sexual assault of students.
5. Be time-bound and institute the required security measures as a matter ofurgent priority. Disseminating the policy, arranging for effective lighting,pruning of trees, speed breakers, traffic regulation, police patrolling andproviding safe transport to women students fall within your duties.
For women students who live in Delhi, every day is a day spent taking a risk.They will not be safe unless this becomes a burning concern that sears thehearts and minds of every academic and administrator within the University. Theuniversity administration must act to provide a context that atones for thebroken promise – of a safe work environment - where millions of young womenstudents bring their aspirations and dreams to life.
In failing to do that, youhave betrayed this student from the Northeast, whose breakdown is as much theresult of the violence she has endured as of your negligence to provide her thenecessary support during police investigation.
Dr. Pratiksha Baxi, Janaki Abraham and Suman Bisht, Forum against SexualHarassment, Delhi University
Xonzoi Borbora and Dolly Kikon, North East Peoples Initiative,Guwahati
Dr. Ashley Tellis, DU Gender Activist
Prof. Kalpana Kannabiran, NALSAR University of Law and President, AsmitaResource Centre for Women
Dr. Radhika Chopra, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
Dr. Geetanjali Gangoli, School of Policy Studies, University of Bristol
Priyasha Kaul MA Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
Lester Coutinho, Country Program, Advisor Packard Foundation
Jinee Lokaneeta, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
Chitra Joshi, IP College, Lecturer
Dr. Prem Chowdhry, Feminist Historian
Anjali Sinha, Stree Adhikar Sangathan
Saba Dewan and Rahul Roy, Independent Film makers
Laxmi Murthy, Saheli
G Arunima Reader LSR
Deepika Tandon Lecturer Miranda House
Dr. Shraddha Chigateri, School of Law, University of Warwick, UK