NEW DELHI: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has recorded 151 sexual harassment complaints since 2017, the year its Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) replaced the Gender Sensitization Committee Against Harassment (GSCASH), according to data obtained through an RTI application.
The university claims to have resolved nearly 98% of these complaints, with only three cases currently under investigation.
However, when asked about the nature of the complaints and the action taken against the accused, JNU refused to provide information, citing confidentiality.
The decision to dismantle GSCASH in 2017 has been a contentious issue, with the JNU Students’ Union and Teachers’ Association consistently demanding its reinstatement.
The association argues that the ICC lacks the transparency and autonomy that GSCASH provided and operates under administrative influence, undermining trust in its processes. The data shows that the highest number of cases in a single year was reported in 2018-19, with 63 complaints.
Before the ICC’s formation, JNU had received 38 record cases in 2016. The COVID-19 pandemic years saw a significant drop, with only six complaints registered between 2019 and 2021.
However, the numbers surged in recent years, with 30 complaints each in 2022-23 and 2023-24. As many as 17 cases were registered in 2017-18, 63 in 2018-19, five in 2019-20, one in 2020-21 and five in 2021-22, the data showed.
In 2015, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) had noted that JNU had the highest number of sexual harassment complaints among the city’s educational institutions with 51 cases reported between 2013 and 2015.