FTII Comes in Support of SRFTI; It's Never too Late to Change

Film and Television Institute of India, Law College Road, Pune: 411004
Pune 18-06-2016

Dear Friends and Comrades in SRFTI,
We, as fellow students, feel urgency in writing to you in the light of the series of incidents unfolding in your institute.
We do not want to fix guilt on the accused nor assume that they have been unfairly accused. Just and proper processes need to be put into place to ensure that justice is delivered to all. Activating the ICC was a step in the right direction. But ever since the incidents on campus and now the maligning of the ICC makes us wonder how you perceive justice and gender vulnerabilities.
The victimization of the sexual harassment complainants from within the community is shocking for all of us. The vigorous attempt to prove that the ICC is biased without giving instances of procedural lapses appears like a witch hunt. It is horrible to see that the highly dangerous and misogynist statements like "taali ek haath se nahi bajta hai" and "SRFTI's dirty linen should not be washed in public" are made by the Chairperson of the Institute and students have not objected.
This collective attitude towards gender issues is disturbing. Many of you have felt that one complainant is provocative and too aggressive in pursuing the charges she has made. To counter this, her personal life is being flaunted to discredit her complaints. Is this what we as a community of cinema lovers want to be? Future generations of film students will look back at us and see the precedence we are setting. Those who feel vulnerable would never feel the confidence to come forward with such issues.
We love our cinema. We love our campus. Yes, this is a safe, free space for many of us. But is this what our cinema and freedom teaching us? To shut down people whose voices we do not like? How will gender justice be served at least in our higher educational institutes which are alive with major students' movements? How will sexual minorities feel safe here? We would like say that we are asking these questions to ourselves as well, here at FTII.
Our society is patriarchal and misogynist, in general and of course, we are not living on Islands. But it doesn't mean that we should let it happen where ever we live. Our whole struggle is to make the world a little better for everybody to live with equal rights. As we already said, our higher educational institutes are the places from where new student movements are raising up and that is the only ray of hope left for all of us in this fascist regime. So, as students, we have the moral responsibility to be sensitive enough to handle gender issues, at least within our own campuses. We also talk about this in the light of certain incidents that have happened on our campus as well, at various points of times in the past. In our higher educational institutes, we still don't have a proper system in place for the redressal of such complaints. FTII itself is an example where we
don't have a single female faculty in the film wing and it is high time for us to bring in gender balance.
Many of our faculty members are people we respect and with whom we share a warm camaraderie. But the faculty and administration at both SRFTI and FTII are primarily men. This makes for a somewhat skewed understanding and response to the issues around sexual harassment. As student communities we need to address this and find a language to speak about gender vulnerabilities without being dismissive of the same. Yes, both our campuses are liberal, safe spaces for many of us but that does not mean that transgressions can never occur. It is how we respond to this that counts. As of now it appears as if both our campuses wants to put a lid on any talk in this direction, to the extent of maligning both the complainants and the official members of the committee that is supposed to provide justice.
Our failure in addressing any such issue systematically within the campuses will only dilute the philosophy of these spaces and will only lead into the intervention of the state forces with dangerous code of conducts which can actually damage the soul of our liberal values in today's scenario. Having a police station inside the campuses or paramilitary forces roaming in and around won't do any good to anyone of us in any case and that can never be a solution to address gender issues.
For too long, we have ignored it systematically and encouraged cynicism about how complaints of sexual harassment are dealt with at an institutional level. We appeal to the students of SRFTI to have faith in the legally set up ICC, a system that feminists have fought for over the years to make institutions a safe space for women. To hound a fellow student is contradictory to the spirit of the progressive politics that the students of SRFTI have stood for the past so many years.
This is a historic moment for you all to take a stand that can teach many lessons to other student communities including ours. The events unfolding in SRFTI actually forced all of us to introspect. We look up to you with the hope that you show restrain and maturity at this point of time.
Love and Greetings
Students' Association, FTII Youtube- ftiistudentsbodyPgmail.com, https://www.facebook.comipages/FTII-Wisdom-Tree

Extremely happy about this primarily because it means that change is happening. People are re-thinking, re-evaluating and it's as if a small sprout has started peeping from earth at the wide blue sky. I joined SRFTI in November 2012 and this is the first time that FTII has joined a cause which started in SRFTI and expressed support and solidarity this way. What a beginning it has been with the issue being that of sexual harassment on campuses. We'll definitely make better films due to this process which has changed us all together.
Much love...

VICTORY IS BITTERSWEET: SEXUAL HARASSMENT BATTLE: GUILTY PROFESSORS, THE REMOVAL OF

18th June 2016, Saturday

Last year, this time i was at home; Kozhikode, Kerala. I was alone in a house which i like very much. I usually visit home during monsoons because my mallu nostalgia begins and ends in its rains. A lot has changed in the year which passed by. I am not home this monsoon because i couldn't finish my shoot according to schedule because i had to fight a battle and work at the same time and it was difficult to do. From the time we filed the complaints in December 2015 till today it has been a horrific journey. But today, i must say that all of it has paid off.
SRFTI has sent the notice to two of the three professors who were found guilty of sexual harassment asking them to retire. They are gone, like how they should be.
I transcribe the order here:

Ref: Minutes of the 56th meeting of Governing Council of SRFTI

Sub: Action taken report on the recommendations of the ICC SH for faculties

An emergency meeting of the Governing Council was held on June 10, 2016 with single agenda point on ICC SH reports for faculties and students

As per the resolution passed by the Governing Council, the Director, being the Member Secretary of the GC, has issued the orders of 'Compulsary Retirement' to the two faculty members w.ef June 16th & 17, 2016 respectively.

The Accused and Complainants to be informed accordingly.

Sd-
(Amaresh Chakraburtty)
Director (I/C)

I am attaching the joint statement from two of us complainants here.

Hi,

We are two sexual harassment complainants from SRFTI. The battle has been long. It was in December 2015 that we made our complaints. For seven months we have been witch hunted, slut shamed, ostracized, cornered and accused of provoking students. Ever since we spoke up against sexual harassment that we faced from professors and students we have been hounded by the SRFTI administration, faculty and student supporters of professors and students. The intimidation and violence unleashed on us was inhuman to say the least. Today, we are speaking from SRFTI which have ordered ‘compulsory retirement’ of two professors on sexual harassment charges made by us. We are extremely happy, relieved and feel as if SRFTI is our space too, after a very long time. Even though SRFTI took a long time to act on the ICC report and that cost us complainants dearly, we would like to point out that by implementing the recommendation by ICC SRFTI has, today, set an example to other places of learning. Sexual harassment charges have been dealt with with the seriousness it deserves and appropriate action has been taken.

This does not mean that the fight is over. We have the following problems up in our agenda now.

• We have been told that the professors have approached court of law. We need support to fight the case in court if that is what ensues. We are students and these seven months have been detrimental to our work as well. To function in such an environment has been extremely stressful. 
• The report of the ICC-SH handling student cases is out and we are contesting the case which was dismissed on the ground that it lacked ‘proof’. We ask SRFTI, when most sexual harassment happens behind closed doors and with just the victim and the perpetrator present is absence of eye-witnesses lack of proof? We will have to challenge the verdict in court and that too requires time and energy among other things.
• We wish to spread the message to all campuses across the country by emphasising the truth that the more sexual harassment is reported, the more healthier campuses are for women. This is not an indication that the campuses are affected with an epidemic or that the reputation of the institutes are at stake but on the contrary it means that these are spaces where women can speak up against violence and abuse and therefore it is an indication of how progressive the spaces are.
• As for SRFTI, at a stage when the majority is still opposed to our protest against sexual harassment and when we know that all attempts for sensitization have failed, we hope that the country will be able to spread the message better. We hope that SRFTI realizes its own ‘khap’ mentality, rape culture, misogyny and one day apologize unconditionally to all complainants who were called names, slut shamed, ostracized and violated just because they spoke up. We know that if it doesn’t happen tomorrow it will when it will. We hope it happens and send the warmth of our battle to them. 

We thank every single person who stood with us during this period. When SRFTI disowned us it was people from across the country and globe who supported our cause. This included filmmakers, activists, feminists mediapersons and others. It is not easy to stand with a long drawn battle. We hope you continue with us in this journey and we hope we win this.

To stop sexual harassment,
kunjila
Sreecheta

On the same day, however i was handed over the report from the ICC which handled student cases. 

My complaint against one man is the only which has not been 'proven'. I had a complaint against another man too but then two other girls had complained against the same man.

Please look at the charges:
a) Sexual harassment of the nature of trying to have sex with a girl-student (me) on three different occasions. The complainant (me) refused.
b) Sexual harassment of the nature of unwanted physical touching of a girl-student (me), The Accused kissed the complainant on her lips without her consent.
c) Sexual harassment of the nature of sexually coloured comments to a girl-student (me). The accused asked the complainant what her bra and panties size were.


The accused student has denied all the charges (seriously, what were they expecting, 'haan haan, i forced myself on a girl but don't punish me?) saying that i complained against him because he 'refused' to work with me.

ICC for student complaints says this,
The allegations have not been established due to lack of proper evidence or witness. The witness who had presented their depositions clearly mentioned that they have not been eye witness to any of the incidents but have heard it only from the complainant, Ms Kunjila Mascillamani herself.

So when a boy forcibly kisses me, forces me to have sex when i say repeatedly that i don't want to, when i feel pukish after a point and even run out of the room, ICC-SH for students headed by Ms Dr. Sanjukta Ray Pahari thinks that 50 people should be around to give testimony. See you in court, student ICC. Ta ta.

I don't know if there is something called victory. It is a fight which just goes on and on till you die. But within it you can have moments of sweetness and sadness. From tomorrow (20th June 2016) we have to take on another battle called the court. 

Let's see where that goes.

MAD WOMEN IN THE ATTIC OF SRFTI

You see in SRFTI, there are two kinds of women. Like during Victorian representation of women in fiction, you can be of the angelic kind. By angelic i do not mean sweet spoken or any of the conventional definitions of a 'proper' woman. On the contrary, these angelic women are very unconventional in their own ways, are expressive and in fact, are fun to hang out with. Only, if you speak about sexual harassment they will turn around and say that there is no such thing/ i am a girl too, i never faced it/ i am a girl too, i have faced it and this is not how i reacted/ it never happened/ you are insane/ you are attention seeking/ you need to be controlled/ you are threatening them etc. Now the girls who complain about sexual harassment will fall into the demonic category, those who have to be locked in attics like in Jane Eyre just because patriarchy cannot think of any other possibility of a woman to be other than an angel or a demon.

So on 10th June 2016 an emergency meeting of the Governing Council of SRFTI was held. Three parents had come to campus just to speak with the governing council members and let them know how their wards were suffering and also to tell people including the chairperson how the delay in acting upon the ICC report was costing a lot to their wards. One of the parents had flown down from Bhopal because the situation was getting worse by day. When we went in there we were asked to wait in the registrar's room where people including the Administrative Officer tried to convince the parents that nothing was wrong with SRFTI. When after forty minutes of waiting the messenger came out to say that we could go in, they stopped us students, two sexual harassment complainants ourselves. A female security personnel who was deployed there used force on us. One of the complainants raised her voice saying we HAD to see the GC members. The scuffle resulted in bruises in her arm. My own mother's arm is still aching and she has to go to seek medical help tomorrow. The letter i was carrying was torn in the scuffle. I have submitted it in front of the GC and have asked them to please mark it as proof of the violence that was thrown at us.

You can see what happened there in this video captured by Vai Vow. The women you see in here are the mad women in SRFTI's attic. This is how we are treated.

After some time, a group of students who belong to the majority who continue to harass and intimidate us came in. That included a sexual harassment complainant herself. The only thing absent there was a red carpet. They were welcomed with wide open doors. No security guard, male or female touched them. Five names had already been given to the security in charge and he had been instructed that they would be let in. All of them were women. There were three people from the SRFTI administration who were present in the GC meeting. One was the chairperson Partha Ghose, the current Director Mr. Amaresh Chakraburtty, the current dean Mr Debashish Ghoshal. I think it is safe to assume that the entry of the five girls who wanted to speak to the GC as people who 'do not wish to take sides' and are taking sides just by saying it was enabled by one of them. I know how faculty and chairperson have manipulated the angelic students to this extent. Who suffers? We do. We will be called insane and be forced out of meetings where we have to speak. We have a video of how the five girls were welcomed in with wide open doors as well. Not posting it because that would reveal the identity of one of the complainants.

Three cheers to the complainant who made our entry possible by speaking in her 'shrill' voice which people make fun of, by using her gesticulations and the truth of her soul which everyone despises. You go girl.

We spoke at the meeting. Our parents did too. I don't know if it had any effect on anyone, if it was enough to get our points across. My own mother was quite emotional and traumatized after a security personnel handled her. She later told me that it was for the first time that something like that had happened to her. I felt guilty. It's okay, i said, it will all end soon. But will it?

Today, 12th June 2016 i read this report in the Times of India. Let me quote one of the professors who have been found guilty.

...it is rumoured that SRFTI will go ahead with punishing two professors, ignoring strong advice from a number of legal experts. The professors, along with majority of students, are shocked by this action which is legally ill-advised and ethically dubious."


According to his claim, the "SRFTI authority" wants the accused to get "justice" from the court. "A number of legal experts, reportedly, made strong observations against the internal complaints committee findings and recommendations. What prompted SRFTI authority to brush the legal opinions aside? This is a burning question that is sure to grip the campus soon," the faculty member said.

Choose the Correct Answer
1. How does the professor know that SRFTI sought advice from a number of legal experts? Ans. Chairperson/Dean/Director
2. How does he know that the strong advice was ignored? Ans: Chairperson/Dean/Director
3. Majority of students are shocked by this action- Which action?
Ans. We don't know because there has been no action yet/ the action the professor has been informed that would be taken by the Chairperson/Dean/Director/ What's action?
4. The professor mentions majority of students. Who are they, how does he know all of their opinion?
Ans. The majority told the professor/the professor told the majority/the Chairperson/Dean/Director told the professor that the majority said that
5. 'Grip the campus soon'- what does the professor mean?
Ans. Only he knows because only he has been told/ Only the majority and the administration know because the professor has told them/ Nobody knows.

Coming back to the mad women in the attic, i chanced upon a letter written to the chairperson by one of my batchmates. The letter was supposed to be shared with me because it had allegations against me. This was not done probably because chairperson Partha Ghose thought that that was the best illegal thing to do at that moment. Anyway wrapping up with the part that affirms SRFTI's problem with women like me or me.

Also the complainant Kunjila Mascillamani is mentally unfit. She has tried committing suicide, is under psychiatric treatment and is self destructive. She has written so herself in her blog posts. Yet her statements are being taken. And she is free to roam about. She is writing complaints and lodging FIRs on a daily basis. This shows how mentally unstable she is.

The girl had blocked me on Facebook some time ago. After i put this up in my newsfeed she ublocked me. I am also pasting here the same girl had sent me after i returned from hospital after my suicide attempt. This is no parable to say how people change. It is just to say that when there are a hundred people telling you that you are mad, and if you are a woman, especially, be sure that you are doing something right.

I have given up hope but am still hoping against all hopes that we get justice. The fight shall continue.

The Farce that is SRFTI Student's Body

Hello all, after the forced resignation of the director and the registrar who have mentioned clearly in this report why they had to do it, i am here to keep you updated on a similar coup that happened within the student general body of SRFTI. The President of the student's body and the Assistant General Secretary were both people who did not encourage any kind of slandering of sexual harassment complainants. The coup that happened was a carefully planned one to overthrow these two members. One night, a general body meeting was convened on the terrace which the majority calls 'ragging terrace'. Not one notice was put up regarding this meeting and not all were informed. The president of the body himself was against convening a meeting in an undemocratic way. Nobody paid heed. What happened that night on the terrace from 11.30 at night to around 4 in the morning of the next day is what is called a public trial. The AGS was surrounded by 30-40 students and was questioned for all that while.
Another female complainant and i interrupted the meeting when we started hearing violent shouts from the terrace and went there to check what was happening. What was happening, like i said was a trial of a student by other students in a forced confinement state. The three of us, the first year student who is the AGS and us two complainants fought the mob. The mob unleashed violence on all three of us in packs. The terrace became three islands in which one of us stood, battling the violators. We tried to protect each other and failed miserably. Nobody slept that night or the nights after that. The audio clip is just a small portion of it starting with our interruption. Till that point the AGS was made to stand in a corner of the terrace and was repeatedly asked the same question and harassed by the mob. He was ridiculed and intimidated. Nobody spoke. Nobody asked anyone to stop till we came.

The audio has been edited from a 1.30 hour long clip. If you want the whole clip please carry your own recorders with you and record everything yourself. Come, let us listen to the modern forms of khap panchayats.



And yesterday, the interim student body which was again 'elected' in a completely undemocratic way, conducted their re-elections. Here is the list of the candidates.
You might think it is impossible, but it is not. The names i have marked in red are either people who were engaged in the violence you just heard or people who have serious allegations against them. I am going to explain all the cases one by one.

The student who was subjected to the public trial had registered a general diary at Panchassayar Police Station, Kolkata following this. This means that their names are not just on the candidates list, but also in police records. How come they are candidates if they are people on police records? Because if i/the student who filed the general diary had to object we would have to raise an objection to the very same people whose names have been registered in the complaint!
Anybody who wishes can check the truth of the statement at Panchassayar police station, Kolkata.

Another of the student who was one of the most active members of the trial has a history of having locked a girl in a male student's room just for the sake of sadistic/voyeuristic pleasure. This is not an isolated story in SRFTI. More than three girls have been locked inside rooms of male students with them being present sometimes. Some of them have been subjected to mockery from outside the room with all kinds of innuendos. Welcome to the world of (perverse) SRFTI.

Another student who stood the elections has the following allegations against him

1. He was subjected to a similar public trial for having assaulted two girl students.
Let me make myself clear that i am completely against such public trials held by students and i could not protest against this one when it happened because i got to know of it after it was done.
2. He has a written complaint filed against him by the residents of C Quarters of SRFTI because one night he was caught beating up his girlfriend in a room in the same building. He was shifted from the quarters to the girl's hostel for this reason. Don't ask me what kind of punishment it is. That's how SRFTI functions. It breeds women beaters and rapists.
3. He is the same person who is heard mocking the female complainant by expelling loud shrieks and laughter imitating her voice.
4. He is also the person who after yelling 'what the fuck' thrice when he was passing by me on his bike, went outside the gate and yelled 'behen ke laudi' at me thrice (i don't know what's with him and the number three) and said 'this happened outside the institute. Now what will you do?'.

All these can be verified through documents.

Another candidate was the leader of the group which went around their department collecting signatures saying 'Shyamal Sengupta is a great teacher, we want him back, he has never done anything wrong to any of us' or something to that effect. Shyamal Sengupta is but of course one of the professors who was proven guilty (then accused) of sexual harassment. As a result of this the identity of the student who had complained against the professor got revealed. The girl herself had made a complaint with the ICC regarding the same incident and therefore, is again a documented piece of evidence.

Some of my friends told me yesterday that they had decided to carry pepper sprays with them in all such general body meetings. I fought with them saying i didn't believe in pepper spray. They laughed and got angry saying i would say the same even when i was dead. I don't care about myself because i have no mouths to feed. But it may not be so for many in SRFTI. So i am asking all of you all with an opinion to carry pepper spray with you if you don't want people inflicting their violence upon you.

I don't think i need to explain why i boycotted the elections yesterday anymore.
Thanks.

Comic Relief:
One of the harassers is an active supporter of Shubhadra Chowdhury, another professor who was found guilty of sexual harassment. When the student was getting harassed by the professor fan, he retorted saying that he was doing all that because 'his father was kicked out of the institute'. He was referring to the professor who is like a (decadent) father figure to most of his fans. Ever since that the fan never stopped saying that his father never went to the institute. I had missed the retort by the student and therefore had no idea what the man was talking about. 

OPEN LETTER TO THE MINISTRY OF I&B: INTERVENE NOW

Professor Partha S Ghose Chairman
D.O. 43029/27/Chairman/ 16-17 Dated : June 2, 2016
Dear kunjila,
I understand from your communication to Shri Deepak Kumar, Director (Films), Ministry of I & B, Govt. of India, that you have complained against me for treating you brutally. Let me assure you that I have all sympathy and support for you. When I talked about washing dirty linen in public, I had provision 16 of the 'Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace' Act in mind, which makes disclosure of matters relating to sexual harassment in any manner punishable under law. Also, when I offered to give you a personal guard, which I did with all good intentions, you seem to have misunderstood me.
Because of allegations of bias against the ICC, I am now bound by law to follow the prescriptions of Clauses 10 and 11 of the Government of India Memorandum dated 16.07.2015 regarding 'Steps for conducting inquiry in case of allegation of sexual harassment'. No hasty decision in this regard will serve the cause.
I urge you to make yourself aware of all the legal and procedural provisions mentioned above.
Yours sincerely,
(Partha S Ghose)
The Joint Secretary (Films), Ministry of I 8v B, Govt. of India Shri Deepak Kumar, Director(Films, MIB, Govt. of India The Chairperson, ICC The Dean 

This is the letter i woke up to on 2nd June, 2016.
It was for the first time that the chairperson had replied to any of my complaints. Only this time, it was a complaint against himself. So let me put this in perspective: I complain against the chairperson to the ministry of I&B and the chairperson writes back to me? Then by that procedure when i complained about sexual harassment in the institute they should have set up a coffee chat with the professors who abused me, no?

So i wrote back to the ministry thus.

Dear sir,
It is most unfortunate that i have been made to write repeatedly to the ministry due to lack of responsible behaviour from the part of the authorities. When i wrote to the ministry i had specifically mentioned various means of harassment that the chairperson had inflicted on me. Today i got a letter from the chairperson. First of all let me please point out the irregularity of the situation. It is to the ministry that i had written regarding the misbehaviour of Mr Partha Ghose. I was seeking the help of a higher authority to take action. Why is it that then the accused person himself is engaging in correspondence with me? When i approached the ICC with complaints of sexual harassment against professors, when i approached the director with various forms of intimidation by students, the practice was not and rightly so, to be asked to engage in a conversation with the accused persons. If a woman's modesty is questioned by a man should she be asked to engage in a discussion with the same man? I find this highly problematic.


Nevertheless, i am now going to address the explanations that Mr Partha Ghose has provided in the letter addressed to me.
Mr Ghose has cited the law which makes it illegal for details of sexual harassment to be disclosed. This is not only factually incorrect but also misappropriation. The chairperson who in his room had violated all my modesty as a woman is quoting from a law which is enabling women like me to complain against sexual harassment, the very crime i am fighting against and the one which Mr Ghose is supporting. Stating the incorrectness of Mr Ghose's statement. 

1. The video of the professor which was made public was already viewed by students.
2. The video is by no means related to sexual harassment. It is a video which speaks about the lack of discipline in the professor's life in hostel and in the presence of his students.
3. The person who shot the video and made a documentary film exercise out of it has raised no objection whatsoever in my making the video public.
These facts can be verified if required. This is the video in question and the second fact can be verified while watching it while the first and the third can be verified any moment by an inquiry at SRFTI.

The Chairperson claims that he meant well by stating that he would provide me with a guard who walks with me 24*7. He claims that i misunderstood him. This is not true. He was mocking me while he said it and this can be verified with the other student who was present there, Mr Kalhan Raina. When a female student is being called 'behen ke laudi' and threatened that 'this happened outside the institute. You can't do anything about it' by fellow male students, is the action to be taken that of employing a guard who curtails my freedom of movement and functioning or taking action against the perpetrators of this violence? Surely, a person holding such a powerful position as the chairperson should know better?
Mr Ghose is mentioning the ICC when i had not mentioned anything related to the ICC in my complaint. In fact the conversation was not about ICC at all.


Also numbering the harassment that was carried out in the presence of a student and the director and which the chairperson has chosen not to reply to

1. Why did Mr Ghose ask me to put my phone away saying that he would not talk to us if we were to quote him later?
2. When i started explaining the violence that was inflicted upon me why did he say 'taali ek haath se nahi bajta', and that the violence against us is response to our provocation, a clear instance of victim blaming.
3. Why did he ask Mr Kalhan Rain and Ms Debjani Banerjee to 'control kunjila'? while perpetrators of crime were and are roaming on campus uncontrolled?

Sir, i believe that the harassment that i was subjected to needs immediate inquiry and action. If it is not the ministry of I and B that i should approach, please guide me as to where to go with this complaint. I believe that no woman, no woman student should be subjected to this form of victim blaming and mockery for just having spoken up. Please give me directions as to whom to approach so that my grievance is redressed and not left with a letter from the chairperson with explanations which do not correspond to the accusations. Action needs to be taken against all forms of injustice and Mr Ghose has no reason to be exempt from it. I am willing to answer any questions regarding the incident and provide testimonies from any of the witnesses mentioned in my letter. The director himself was present during this ordeal and had later mentioned to a faculty about the way in which the chairperson had spoken to me. The faculty is willing to testify as well, if required.


Waiting for justice,
kunjila.

In the morning i also received the copy of the ICC report which had pronounced the two accused professors guilty. All four of us complainants received it and we were all very happy. This was the result of joint efforts from a lot of people. The first injustice had occurred when the institute shared the ICC report with the accused professors and not with the complainants. It is after repeated requests and talks by various people including NGOs like Swayam and activists that they agreed to give it to us. Do you know that the director was not allowed to carry the ICC report to Delhi when he went to the ministry? What is it that is in there that the chairperson fears so much so that he is now only interested in the 'ICC is biased' chorus from the professors who have been found guilty? 

SEXUAL HARASSMENT BATTLE: MINISTRY WRITES BACK

On 1st June 2016 when all children went back to school back at home, Kerala i received a mail which i believe is from the ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It was ccd to the director and the chairperson of the institute and it read thus.

Ma'm!
Please refer your emails regarding pending complaints filed by you. As you know, the Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) set up by the Institute is inquiring into them and has also submitted its report on some of them. The concerned disciplinary authority is looking into the reports submitted by the ICC and appropriate action would be taken in accordance with the prescribed procedure in this regard. You may appreciate that the management has taken several steps in this regard. You may also appreciate that in such matters, the procedure as prescribed is to be followed and you may be rest assured that the Institute will take all necessary measures in accordance with the prescribed Rules. As regards threats from certain quarters, the Institute is taking necessary steps to address your concern. 

I do not know what to make of this letter because it is not really addressing any of the problems i had written them about. Even then i have decided to believe that it is a ray of hope that they wrote back. I wrote back to them thus.

Dear sir,Thanks for the reassuring reply.
I would, however like to point out certain queries and grievances which have been left unanswered.
The reply that you sent me was ccd to the chairperson Mr Partha Ghose. It is against his harassment that i had written to you first. His brutal form of harassment towards a sexual harassment complainant needs to be addressed immediately also because he holds power and that in itself is intimidating. I hope you remember the faculty meeting held by Mr. Partha Ghose which was nothing but a plot to eradicate the element called me from campus. Please intervene immediately.
The management has not provided us with the copy of the ICC report up until this moment when i am writing to you.
The management has not taken any action based on the findings of ICC.
The management has not taken any action against the students who were engaged in a massive intimidation campaign.
Thanks,
kunjila.

I really hope the ministry intervenes and we win this battle. I am waiting.