Sexual harassment by faculty, women students have nowhere to go

MADURAI: The arrest of an assistant professor of the Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) on Tuesday for misbehaving with one of his woman students has once again brought to light the shady side of some faculty misusing their positions. Many women pursuing higher education, especially doing their research, admit of several types of harassment from the guides.They say that it ranges from sexual harassment to intrusion into their personal lives. However, not many women come forward to reveal their plight fearing repercussions.
The victims hesitate to complain as they are not sure whether any action would be initiated against the accused. Moreover, many of the research scholars in MKU do not even know where to file a complaint during such situation. Hardly anyone knows about the complaint committee which should have been in place as per the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
In the latest incident, following persistent sexual harassment from C Kannan, assistant professor from the department of ancient history, under the school of historical studies, the girl's parents were forced to lodged a police complaint. Kannan, who was arrested on Tuesday, was accused of sexually misbehaving with the girl, a first-year postgraduate student, for long time. Even her parents' intervention did not keep him away from the girl, police said.
Research scholars from the university say that harassment from guides is a common occurrence. "When I was staying in the hostel my friends used to complain regularly about the sexual intentions of their guide. One of my friends told how her guide used to show some inappropriate content from his laptop and often urged her to watch it. We cannot resist or come out in open as they give bad remarks. Moreover, our fellowships would be affected," said a research scholar, who quit a few months ago after she underwent a similar fate.
"I was in love with a boy from the university. Both our family members were aware of it and fixed our marriage. But the guide was not happy about it. He started harassing me and continued it for a long time. I could not tolerate it and finally had to quit," she said.
Bimla Chandrasekar, director, EKTA, a resource centre for women said, "I am not sure whether a committee is there in the institution. But every institution should have the committee as per the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act."
Representatives of students association said that they have not heard about the complaints committee. Even the women research scholars are clueless about where to take the harassment complaints. They believe that the complaint within the university might backfire at them, representatives from All India Students Association said.
When contacted, N Rajasekar, registrar, said, "I came to know that there is some inquiry committee constituted to investigate. But, I am not fully aware of the issue."
Women activists say that very few sexual harassment incidents come to light. It may be recalled that the faculty of a theological seminary petitioned the then district collector last year urging action against the then principal M Gnanavaram, who had allegedly made sexual advancements on a girl who was doing research in the seminary.