SRFTI DISSOLVES SEXUAL HARASSMENT COMMITTEE IN A SHOCKING HURRIED MOVE

11^th March 2017, Kolkata

The matter has become clear now. We now know why we, sexual harassment complainants, mostly Sreecheta Das and i have been facing a new wave of violence and harassment from the institute of late.

In the Governing Council meeting yesterday it was decided that Putul Mahmood will be removed from the position of Chairperson of ICC [Internal Complaints Committee for Sexual Harassment]. This decision has been made in the most dubious way possible. It is not even legal. ICCs are declared valid or invalid by courts and not by allegations made by professors who have a history with sexual harassment complainants. This is a very serious issue and needs to be addressed as soon as possible because it is impossible for us to see it removed from the context of two recent incidents, Sreecheta being subjected to an enquiry on the grounds that she vilified a professor and me being threatened that my diploma work shall be stalled. It should also be noted that this decision has been taken while

a)      Ms Sreecheta Das has a sexual harassment complaint of which the preliminary report has been submitted already by the committee chaired by Putul Mahmood.
b)   A court case is being fought by two professors found guilty of sexual harassment against the ICC and the institute. This is to say that while we girls are also party to that case and are fighting it, one fine day SRFTI has decided that it shall bypass the court of law. 

 c)   An ICC is constituted for a period not less than three years and that means that its tenure is till April 2018. This is not about the people involved. It is about the irregularity of the affair and the context and setting against which it is being done. 

 d)   SRFTI does not have a Chairperson now and yesterday's GC meeting was presided by actress Amala Akkineneni. We have reasons to believe that outsiders like her who was present in the meeting were grossly misinformed or duped into taking this decision. Minutes of the meeting are not available to us majorly because most of the time they are not written and secondly because nobody gives us anything.

Such irregularities have been happening for a long time, even ones involving lots and lots of money and sexual harassment issue brought this institute under the glare of media. We also believe that this move has been made also by those who have been questioned repeatedly by audit and CAG reports. We urge our filmmaker friends and others who have stood with us in this battle to support us by doing whatever you can to help us get justice and lead a peaceful life in SRFTI. Frankly, all of us are tired of fighting the institute. We need urgent help with the following:

a)      Getting the news and other details out in media. [SRFTI is an important source of money for many of the newspapers here and of late we have seen tendencies which tell us that media has been made to shut up with money in matters related to SRFTI]

b)      We had written to Minister M Venkaiah Naidu expressing our apprehension with respect to the appointment of the new Director of SRFTI. What we had suspected would happen has just happened. If there is anybody who can help us get in touch with the minister to follow up on this, please help us.

We will fight sexual harassment. Don't try to weaken us, destroy us, break us or kill us. We will fight.

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.