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.