Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) would have ideally witnessed elections to its Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) tomorrow. However, after the university administration’s September 18 order that replaced GSCASH with Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) citing UGC regulations, 2015, the GSCASH elections had to be canceled. The move has drawn criticism from students and professors alike, all of whom have stated that the new committee, ICC, is neither an autonomous nor democratic body like GSCASH.

 Subsequently, a writ petition against the dissolution and supersession of the GSCASH Rules and Procedures was filed by JNU Teachers Association in the Delhi High Court on September 19. “Executive Committee has made an arbitrary decision without informing the current GSCASH members. The vice chancellor even sent staff members to seal GSCASH office and take over the files. This is clearly illegal and these things are not under their jurisdiction,” said the newly-elected JNU Students’ Union president Geeta Kumari, who was also a GSCASH member for over two years.

Before its dissolution, GSCASH had included four elected faculty members of whom at least two were women, four elected student representatives of whom at least two were women, and one elected woman officer as well as one elected woman staff member. In contrast, ICC will only have three student representatives who would be elected, other than that three faculty members and two non-teaching would be nominated. 

This increases the possibility of administrative influence over the committee, students and faculty members have alleged. Newslaundry reached out to the Vice-Chancellor for his response.  The story will be updated as and when we hear back.