SFI
Demands Justice for Pavitra
ON October 15, Delhi
unit of the Students Federation of India (SFI) organised a
protest action demanding
justice for Pavitra, the lab attendant of B R Ambedkar
College, who immolated
herself after getting no response on the complaints of sexual
harassment she
had filed against her principal, G K Arora.
The protest by SFI was
organised around three central
demands, viz, immediate removal and arrest of the college
principal G K Arora,
judicial inquiry into the case, and regular elections to
anti-sexual harassment
committees in all colleges of Delhi University.
On the day, about 100
students collected at the Arts
Faculty building in Delhi University
around 11 am,
after which the rally moved through various colleges,
culminating in a rally at
the Vivekanda Statue inside the Arts Faculty. It is baffling
to think that
though Pavitra had filed about 150 complaints against Arora at
various levels
and had been doing so since 2009, there was no inquiry into
the matter. This
incident and many before this have shown the urgent need to
take up cases of
sexual harassment seriously, which the University and its
administration have
failed to do at any point in time. In fact, the SFI said, the
autocratic nature
of the administration is visible from the fact that after
Arora’s suspension
two teachers of Hindu College were arbitrarily suspended ---
in a clear attempt
to show to the protesting teachers and students where the
power lies, and
thereby to silence their voices. The SFI said it has becomes
all the more
necessary, therefore, to intensify struggle against sexual
harassment and
against those who fail to take up such cases seriously.
People's Democracy