Tag

Bharati College

Browsing

The following piece may be upsetting for some readers. Trigger warning: transgression of consent, invasion of privacy, harassment.

Students from Bharati College of Delhi University reported a distressing incident that unfolded on the college premises on the second day of Rendezvous, the fest at IIT Delhi.

On October 6, during the cultural festival of Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, ‘RendezvousX’, students of Bharati College reported an unfortunate incident of an alleged breach of their privacy through unconsented videography on the college premises. Team Elantré, the fashion society of Bharati College, participated in a fashion show competition hosted by IIT Delhi, where several members of the team reported observing a mobile phone seemingly filming them through the window shafts while changing costumes in the campus washrooms. The victims, through a statement on the society’s official social media, claim to have promptly brought this incident to the attention of the student incharges responsible for the event’s organisation, who are alleged to have reacted nonchalantly to their concerns. The incharges reportedly shifted the blame onto the victims, asserting that they should have used the designated green rooms for costume changes instead of the washrooms.

The team, through their official Instagram page, claimed to have received a dismissive reaction from the organizing members.
Source: @elantre on Instagram

In response to the victims’ complaints, the organising members eventually informed them that the issue had been forwarded to the college authorities for further investigation. However, a significant concern arose when it reportedly took approximately 2 hours for the alleged perpetrator to be located, despite the availability of CCTV footage. Nearly 3 hours later, the alleged housekeeping staff was identified, but he claimed to have deleted any evidence from the phone in question, citing panic as the reason. Notably, the victims discovered that the phone in his possession was not the same one they had witnessed.

An individual, who claimed to have accompanied the team as a makeup artist, asserted that the concerned authorities assured them that gates had been locked and jammers were in action, after which they were shown CCTV footage of a person entering the aisle beside the washrooms.

Everyone was in shock, especially some of the girls who had already changed before. The authorities were trying to shush us and kept assuring us that they would catch the culprit.

The Organising Committee of Rendezvous, through their Instagram handle, clarified that immediately after the incident was brought to the attention of the volunteers, the Lecture Hall Complex (the location of the event) was shut down to restrict any movement. Additionally, they stated that security is being tightened to prevent any such unfortunate incidents.

As soon as the perpetrator was identified, he was promptly handed over to the campus security and further to the Jia Sarai police station. We are assisting the victims and their families in further police proceedings as best as we can. We strongly condemn the perpetrator and have zero tolerance for such actions.

– read the team’s statement

The fest organizers issued a statement in solidarity of the victims.
Source : @rendezvous.iitd

While the Rendezvous team page asserted that the competition was called off after consultation with the victim and their team, Team Elantré stated that despite the incident, the college continued their event.

Law-enforcement officials at the IIT-D campus.
Source: @elantre , the official page of the fashion society of Bharati College

The victims have filed an FIR (First Information Report) with the appropriate authorities, seeking a thorough investigation. The members of Team Elantre, along with their parents, protested for nearly 6 hours in the college but claim to have received no further updates from the institution.

Read also: The Invasion of IPCW: A Student’s Account

Featured Image Credits: Policenama

Manvi Goel
[email protected]

A tragedy stuck Bharati College on Wednesday when an 18-year-old BA Programme second year allegedly committed suicide by consuming pesticide in the college’s washroom. No suicide note was recovered from the victim and the police is still investigating the case.

The Hindustan Times reported that the police control room received a call at 9:50 a.m. regarding a suicide in the college. A police team was rushed to the campus who found the student, identified as Vicky Kumari, unconscious inside a toilet which was bolted from inside. She was taken to Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital where doctors declared her brought dead. One of the student wen

“A bottle of pesticide was found in the toilet. We checked her bag and found a small knife that was used for cutting paper. Neither the student’s mobile nor suicide note was not found,” said Mr. Vijay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West). “We searched her house but found nothing useful. Her cell phone call records are being analysed,” he added.

According to the college authorities, the victim had reached college around 8:30 a.m. as she had to attend her 9 a.m. class. She later went to the toilet but didn’t return which prompted her classmates to check on her. They raised an alarm when the victim didn’t respond to the knocks on the washroom door.

Her mother, subsequent to the reception of this unexpected news lost her consciousness and was taken to the hospital for first aid. The College Principal has issued a statement on the college website.

principal

In the light of this tragedy, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad led Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU)  has proposed Wellness Cells in all Delhi University Colleges that will be primarily dedicated to the mental health of the students. They have also demanded a proper check or a survey initiated by the DU administration on the availability and appointments of professional counselors in DU.

Speaking to DU Beat, Mahamedha Nagar, General Secretary, DUSU, said,” “This is an unfortunate incident. There’s been an exponential growth in the suicidal tendencies amongst the youth. They see suicide as an easy resolution to their issues. A necessity at this moment is to come up with ideas to expose pupils to the immaturity behind such ideas and make them stronger. I have moved a proposal to establish a Wellness Cell within the University and I expect it to pull through and be fully functional latest by the end of this academic year.”

According to the Bharati College counselor, Dr. Sonali Jain, “The college does have an infrastructure and a psychodynamic counselor, who is trained in her profession.  Long-term therapy isn’t always possible, so we provide them (patients) with short-term therapy. In case of a long-term therapy, The patient is made to lie for 45 minutes and open up to a counselor, in the presence of a trained supervisor. The suicide victim never turned up for therapy or to share her problem.”

Although the  Bharati College claims to have established a cell as an outlet of the depressed upsurges of the students, the pupils aren’t satisfied by its constitution. It lacks a professional therapist and instead makes do with an English professor, who doubles up as the therapist.

While the Police continue with their investigation- filtering through call records and interrogating near and dear ones, the issue needs to be given profound gravity and adequate steps need to be taken, in order to avoid such sorrowful instances in the future. If you are feeling unwell and depressive, and are having self-harming thoughts then call on the 24 x 7 suicide helpline number: 022 2754 6669

Feature Image Credits: South Call

Aashish Jain 

[email protected]

Just two days after the arrest of a professor of Daulat Ram College, another student of Bharati College has come forward and written to the Vice-Chancellor about sexual harassment she and some other girls of her department faced.

The third-year student who is also a player in the college’s boxing team alleged that Dr. Amit Kumar of Political Science Department sent lewd messages to her, called at inappropriate timings, requested to meet outside the college’s premises, and sought sexual favours. The student also sent screenshots of the conversations to all college Whatsapp groups.

When the student confronted the teacher in the classroom, he accepted his mistakes and sought her forgiveness for it would have dire consequences for the man with a wife and child. The girl later found out that the professor was neither married nor had a child.

The girl then approached the authorities of the college who told her to dismiss the whole affair and keep quiet. They even threatened to suspend her and ruin her career. The girl has even sent a video clip to the VC in which the professor is seen apologising while the girl is slapping him surrounded by other girls.

It has also been revealed that the college’s Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) was not working according to the University Grants Commission  (UGC) guidelines. In the light of the incident, the college is now making a student committee.

The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) protested against the sexual harassment spoke with the authorities. The authorities have promised to solve the matter very soon, but a police complaint has not yet been filed.

Each student of the college stands in solidarity with the girl who had the courage to speak.

 

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Prachi Mehra

[email protected]

An off-campus girls’ college located in Janakpuri (since 1998), Bharati College has a lot to explore about. Founded by the Delhi Administration as Bharati Mahila College in September 1971, it started functioning from the premises of a Government Senior Secondary School for Boys located on Link Road in Karol Bagh. Initially, the College offered courses only in the B.A. Programme (then known as B.A. Pass) and a few vocational courses like Office Management and Tailoring & Dress Designing.

It has since expanded to include honours courses in English, Hindi, Sanskrit, History, Political Science, Economics, Maths and Commerce. Under DC courses, students can opt for Human Resource Development, Marketing Management, Human Development & Childhood studies and Hindi Patrakarita- Jansanchar. Part-time self-financing courses in foreign languages such as French, German and Russian and DOEACC level computer courses are also open to the regular students of the College as well as outsiders.

The college entrance has beautiful gardens to rejuvenate the mood, a huge sports ground for cricket, badminton, football etc. and parking facility is available inside the college premises for all. The building has three floors with an air-conditioned top floor. Auditorium and hostel building are under construction which will attract more outsiders. PG facility is available in Virender Nagar which is just opposite the college.

The college has well-equipped air-conditioned two-storeyed library with a separate reading section and computer lab. Special attention is given to differently abled students with facilities like separate parking area, washrooms, rampage, signboards and books in braille scripts. Canteen has food for all with rates that suits everyone’s pocket. Students’ don’t miss out the routine of walking to the canteen everyday to check the ‘special menu’.

The central lawn is the students’ favourite place to sit and enjoy. Being an all girls’ college the protective environment gives you the liberty to follow the latest fashion trends from suits to mini-skirts anyday and everyday. Our college has one among the best fashion societies, Elantre and various other active societies. Although an all girls’ college it provides great exposure and opportunities equivalent to any other college of Delhi University and will soon become a name in itself.     

Guest post written by Garima Choudhary from Bharati College

The innovation projects were conceptualised by the Delhi University Vice Chancellor against the background of opportunities and limitations reported in colleges of the University. Over 300 projects submitted by students and faculty of colleges around the University made it to the final list. A project submitted by the faculty members and students of Bharati College has made the cut.

 

Project title: Assessing Stressors Among Young Adults: A contribution towards building a stress-free and youthful India

 

Principal investigator: Dr. Anupama Mahajan

 

Co-investigators: Dr. Rekha Sapra, Ms. Deepika Dewan

 

Students’ team: Amprapali Aggarwal, Anjali Kalra, Garima Choudhary, Pragya Malhotra, Priya Jain, Sukriti Jain, Sanjukta Chauhan, Tanisha Malik, Vanshikha Khandelwal, Yukti Sinha.

The project aims to comprehend levels of stress among young adults between the ages of 18-35. Through the medium of specially created questionnaires, a pilot study was conducted. The team worked on samples of young adults and found that innovative and creative minds can show maximum efficiency only when they are free of stress. The project which commenced in September last year is still underway.

 

According to the team, the reason behind selecting a sample of young adults is that people aged 18-33 are the most stressed individuals in the world, and that after the age of 33 stress levels tend to reduce. Statistics show that in India about 46,000 suicides occurred each in the age groups 15-29 and 30-44 in 2012 (about 34% of total suicides).

Initially, the team considered issues related to personal relationships, sexual life, peer pressure, parental pressure, etc. while studying the factors responsible for stress among the population, but gradually other reasons surfaced like medical problems, gender bias etc. Stress-busters were also identified.


“Considering the fact that persons in 15-29 age group are most stressed, we visited both South and North campuses of DU. For the assessment of stress factors among working classes, we conducted surveys in various areas across Delhi, like Gurgaon, Noida, Connaught Place, etc.” said Garima Choudhary, one of the students involved in the project. “It is obvious that the problem can’t be completely controlled, but at least some of it can be,” she added.

Workshops, interactive sessions, seminars, and open house discussions were conducted by the team during the course of their study. The team hopes to make innovative brains stress-free through their project.

 

Image credits: bharaticollege.com

Mir Uzair Farooq
[email protected]