A probe by the committee revealed gross lapses in the overall security at the fest and that the college had underestimated the number of participants in the fest on the campus.
On 6th February 2020, the third day of the college’s annual cultural fest ‘Reverie’, many students of Gargi college in the South Campus of the Delhi University alleged that a mob of outsiders gate-crashed into the campus and manhandled and sexually harassed the students.
A fact-finding committee conducting an independent probe into the alleged molestation of female students of Delhi University’s Gargi College here on February 6 has so far recorded and examined the statements of over 600 witnesses, varsity sources said on Wednesday.
The Delhi High Court had on Monday issued notices on a petition seeking a CBI probe into the molestation incidents.
The probe, after a general body meeting with the students, recommended that the college’s staff be sensitised to gender issues after many students complained about the lax attitudes of the administration when the misdemeanours had first been reported.
“The committee found that the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) is grossly biased and compromised and that a new ICC be formed as per UGC requirements by February-end,” the college’s student body said in a statement. The Committee also said that a second, more conclusive report would be constructed to address the event in its entirety. A decision has also been taken to form a new ICC as per the requirements of the University Grants Commission (UGC). The committee is to be formed by the end of February.
Moreover, A second-year student told IANS that aggrieved students will meet with Delhi Commission for Women on Friday on the matter.
“It would be great if the findings of the committee help in improving the attitude of the college administration towards students’ complaints and issues, and a general attitude of the university towards student and womens’ issues,” says a first year student from the college.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Geetanjali Khandelwal is leading the investigation in the said case. With the arrest of two more persons by Delhi Police on Tuesday, the total arrests in the case have gone up to 17.
The accused were arrested under Sections 452, 354 and 509 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, police said on Tuesday. Of them, 10 have been granted bail by Delhi’s Saket court.
Image Credits: DU Beat Archives
Satviki Sanjay
Comments are closed.