Sexual harassment turning common place in Eflu, say students

HYDERABAD: The alleged gang-rape of a post-graduate student at English and Foreign Languages University (Eflu) is not an isolated case of assault on female students on the campus, students said on Sunday.
The varsity students, who held a protest on campus after the rape incident came to light, spoke on the need to create a gender-sensitive space and collected around 100 signatures demanding that the administration revive the Gender Sensitive Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH).They said that in September, when a group of female students wanted to report an instance of sexual harassment, they had no one to turn to.
"The university has not put up details of GSCASH members as is mandated by the UGC. When we received the list of members in the committee constituted way back in January 2012, we realised that three student representatives in it had already left the campus. The committee is currently defunct," said Rose Sebastian, a PhD student at Eflu. While the administration had promised students a functional GSCASH two months ago, it is still pending, Sebastian rued.
"As per the UGC mandate, the GSCASH should have elected student members and also a chairperson whose term is one year. But in Eflu, that's not the case," said Muhammed Afzal, another protestor.
Meanwhile, protestors complained that instances of harassment are on the rise and there were cases where male students had even recorded explicit videos of female students without their consent. "The university only thinks of installing more CCTV cameras on campus as a security measure. But the real need of the hour is to create gender sensitisation," said C Pritha, a protestor.
The protesters gathered at the main gate of the campus on Sunday urged for strict punishment to the perpetrators of the crime. "There is also an attempt to defame the victim. This has to be checked," said a protestor.
Meanwhile, an Eflu spokesperson said the university will take action against the culprits. "If proven guilty, the students involved will be expelled," the spokesperson said. However, the varsity has not set up any internal inquiry into the matter.