[Imc-india] Axn Alert: IIT Blames Victim of Violence AgainstWomen

[yash]

Hi all,
Please check out the action alert below accompanied by details about
Friday's incident of harrassment of a woman at IIT.
Also, please forward this to friends and family after removing |Fwd:| from
the subject.

thanks and regards,
Yash
**
*ACTION ALERT!!*


IIT-M Mishandles Case of Violence Against Woman: Blames the Victim



ACTION ALERT:

Please write to

The Director

Indian Institute of Technology-Madras

Guindy, Chennai

Email: director at iitm.ac.in and dirsecy at iitm.ac.in



Protest against the Institute Administration's irresponsible handling of an
incident of use of force against a female visitor to the Saarang 2006
festival by a male student.



*Here is what happened:*

On 27 Jan, Shweta, a female member of Chennai-based youth collective We Feel
Responsible, was manhandled by an IIT student (a Saarang student
coordinator) when he was trying to forcibly confiscate a video camera in her
possession.. Shweta and IIT 2 nd Year student Yash Jain were involved in
conducting an audit of the non-biodegradable garbage generated at Saarang,
IIT's annual cultural festival. Yash, who is also a coordinator of an
initiative called Green Saarang, was carrying the camera to use it for
documenting the audit. Other Saarang coordinators, who were concerned that
the footage would generate negative publicity and scare away corporate
sponsors responsible for the bulk of the non-degradable packaging in the
trash, decided to take the law into their hands and seize the camera from
Yash. Concerned about the camera, Shweta suggested that the police be called
to resolve the matter.   This suggestion was rejected. When she tried to
hold on to the camera, she was shoved and pushed by the Saarang coordinator.






More than a complaint against the errant student, this is a report about the
insensitive manner in which the Dean of Students and the IIT administration
treated a woman's   complaint about use of force by an IIT student. Rather
than enquire into the incident and make amends, the Dean accused Shweta of
illegally entering IIT and detained her against her will until she parted
with the video tape in the camera. She was shouted at by the Dean, detained
in the Dean's office with no women staff present. Intimidated by the
atmosphere, Shweta parted with the tape that contained no footage of garbage
from the morning's audit. Shweta attempted to persuade   the Chief Security
Officer to take  action against the errant student. However, she was told
that such incidents are to be expected in the heat of the moment. The CSO
refused to part with the names of the students involved. He said she could
do what she wanted and that he would protect his "boys."



The Waste Audit was a follow-up to a similar exercise conducted during
Saarang 2005 in order to demonstrate the impact of the cultural festival on
the sensitive environment of IIT Madras. IIT Madras is located within a
forest area, and has a sizable deer population that is vulnerable to the
plastic wastes indiscriminately strewn throughout the campus. Saarang,
unlike the   folksy Mardi Gras of yesteryears, is a big-ticket cultural
festival with multinational corporate sponsors, and blaring juke boxes.
Faced with the corporate onslaught, some students even question the extent
to which the festival reflects youth culture.



The result of the 2005 waste audit was a film called Hangover, and a report
called Trash Culture
(http://www.sipcotcuddalore.com/downloads/TC_study.zip<http://www.sipcotcuddalore.com/downloads/TC_study.zip>)
which not only quantified the biodegradable and non-biodegradable garbage,
but also made recommendations to progressively move Saarang to being an
environmentally and socially responsible festival. The IIT Administration
and Saarang organisers made assurances that they would clean up the
festival. . However, rather than clean up its act, IIT-M seems to have
decided to prohibit filming of the garbage strewn around the campus.



The impulsive aggression of the young student, while disturbing, is not the
primary concern here. Such youth need to be counseled and advised to behave
appropriately. What is most disturbing is the attitude and behavior of
the Dean and the Chief Security Officer. The Dean ignored and dismissed
Shweta's complaints of physical abuse by the student coordinator, and the
CSO first made light of Shweta's complaints, saying that in an argument,
things like this do happen.



Frustrated by her efforts to seek remedy from the IIT administration, Shweta
has filed a complaint with the police. The IIT administration remains
unrepentant, and is engaged in a ham-handed cover-up that is turning out to
be more damaging for it than it reckoned. For an institution of higher
learning, IIT's administration seems particularly ill-equipped to deal with
issues of female harassment. This is a dangerous situation, particularly
since this will embolden other male students to behave inappropriately with
women.



What could have been resolved with a simple acknowledgement of wrongdoing
and an apology, or a full enquiry by the Dean into the matter, has turned
into a game of threats and manipulation on the part of IIT. The Dean had
made up his mind that Shweta's complaints were illegitimate without hearing
her story.



Please write letters to the Director of IIT asking that this highly
regarded institute show more responsibility and basic decency in dealing
with this incident of harrassment of a woman, and initiate steps to impart
gender sensitivity counseling to all its security and other staff. A sample
letter is given below.



Thanking you for your support,

We Feel Responsible,  (Youth Group) Chennai.





Sample Letter



To

The Director

Indian Institute of Technology,

Guindy,

Chennai.



Dear Sir,



We are extremely disturbed by the events at your Institute during Saarang
2006, and by the insensitive manner in which your administration is handling
a matter of physical abuse by one of your students on a female visitor named
Shweta. This is a serious but relatively straightforward matter which should
be handled by making the young student aware of his mistake and asking him
to apologize to the woman, and possibly counseling him so that he better
understands women's sensitivities.  Instead, the authorities, and
particularly, the Dean of Students and the Chief Security Officer, have
berated her and have dismissed her complaint without enquiring into it, or
giving her a hearing. Currently, the Institute is engaged in looking for
ways to contain the damage to the Institution's image, rather than remedy
the mistake made by its management in not taking Shweta's complaints
seriously.



We also understand that she was restrained from leaving the institute, and
was alone in the Dean's office without any women staff present. Regardless
of intent, such a situation, especially when the men present are berating
her, is likely to be extremely intimidating for a young woman.



This matter reflects a grave dereliction of the institute's duty to instil a
sense of responsible and decent behavior in its students, especially in the
serious matter of violence against women. No matter what the circumstances,
it is inexcusable for a man to use force against a woman, and for the
authorities to condone this and vow to protect the assaulter is setting a
shameful precedent for institutions of high repute such as yours.



We believe that the young student who has allegedly committed the offence
needs to be reprimanded and counseled, and made to apologise to the young
lady. However, the Institute needs to initiate more severe and serious
correctional mechanisms to its management and security staff. We believe
that the Institute staff need to undergo intensive sensitisation courses on
gender issues and on handling issues of female harassment.



Also disturbing is the closed-door attitude that is being adopted by the
Institute to stave off justifiable criticism and constructive action
regarding the environmental concerns arising out of the Institute's
operations in a eco-sensitive area. Yash Jain, whose initiative it was to
introduce Green Saarang in 2005, is being victimised and branded as
anti-IIT, even while the Institute tries to deflect attention from its
shoddy waste management practices on campus by muzzling free speech.



We hope to hear that this matter has been settled in a responsible and
decent way as befits an institute of higher learning. We also hope that the
Management does not decide to do away with Saarang. This incident reflects
only on the unpreparedness on the part of the Management to deal with issues
of female harassment and openness relating to its environmental practices.
With the right kind of guidance, IIT students will be able to show-case a
Greener and Socially responsible Saarang in the years to come.



With regards,
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