Everyone has a viewpoint: JNU officer on 'misogynist' circular

A day after a public invitation for a counselling session by JNU on sexual harassment drew flak for its choice of words the presiding officer of the varsitys Internal Complaints Committee said everyone has a viewpoint and their way of looking at thingsA line in the invitation read ldquogirls are supposed to know how to draw a tangible line between them and their male friendsThis drew the ire of student outfits and teachers who said it reeks of victim shamingThe Internal Complaints Committee ICC of the Jawaharlal Nehru University JNU had uploaded the invitation on the varsitys website saying that it will organise the counselling session on sexual harassment on January 17It also said that such sessions will be organised on a monthly basisProfessor Punam Kumari the presiding officer of the ICC said Many of the cases that we receive are those where men and women are close friends Women if they do not like the way they are being touched should say it the first time and not keep to themselves People get into a relationship after becoming friends If they dont like the way they are being touched they should convey it clearlyShe said that men are not aware about the repercussions of sexual harassment and the counselling session will educate them that if they are making someone uncomfortable or touching them inappropriately despite being told not to what can be the consequencesWhen asked about the criticism she said Everyone has a viewpoint and their way of looking at things They can look at the counselling session in a positive way and see that such an event is being organisedUnder the subhead why is the counselling session required the invite said that it will make students aware about what consists of sexual harassmentIt also said that students are being counselled during the orientation programme and on the inception of each academic year they need to refresh their knowledge about the same time to timeICC come across a number of cases where sexual harassment takes place among close friends Boys generally cross sometimes advertently sometimes inadvertently the thin line between friendships bantering and sexual harassment Girls suppose to know how to draw a tangible line between them and their male friends to avoid any such harassments sic the invite readEarlier in the day National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma sought withdrawal of the misogynist circular issued by the universityWhy all the teachings are always for girls only Time to teach harassers not the victims The misogynist circular of JNU should be withdrawn Internal committee should have victimcentred approach and not otherwise Sharma said on Twitter while tagging the invitationCalling the invitation atrocious JNU professor Ayesha Kidwai in a Facebook post said the invite shows why women do not want to approach the ICCIt shows us why women complainants do not want to complain to the ICC for fear of being punished themselves It also explains why the loss of GSCASH has effectively silenced all discussion of SH sexual harassment on JNU campus altogether as the ICC and its supposed awareness programmes have created an atmosphere which is virulently hostile to sexual harassment being seen as a misconduct a human rights violation and a blatant exercise of patriarchal and hierarchical power in the workplace the post readThe JNU administration replaced the Gender Sensitisation Committee against Sexual Harassment GSCASH with the ICC in September 2017 in its 269th executive council meeting a move which was extensively criticised by student and teacher bodies apart from womens rights organizationsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever