BHUBANESWAR: The Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College incident has exposed serious loopholes in the institution.
As per sources, the college did not have a functional internal complaints committee (ICC) till Soumyashree Bisi brought a sexual harassment complaint against the institution’s HoD of Teacher Education Samira Kumar Sahoo. The ICC was, in fact, constituted by the institution on July 1, a day after Soumyashree filed a complaint with the college principal Dilip Ghosh accusing Sahoo of sexually and mentally harassing her for six months.
An ICC is a mandate of the University Grants Commission (UGC) for all colleges and universities recognised by it, for implementation of UGC regulations on prevention, prohibition and redressal of sexual harassment of women employees and students. The UGC also mandates putting up the committee details on the website for students’ convenience.
The college on its website has names of five persons - three faculty and two non-faculty members - as members of the ICC. Interestingly, none of the five members were aware of their inclusion in the committee when The New Indian Express reached out to them for their comments on Sunday. “The ICC was de facto present but there were no official members. It was present just for namesake,” said a faculty member, requesting anonymity.
Following Soumyashree’s complaint on June 30, principal Ghosh formed a nine-member ICC including three faculty members, two non-faculty members, a social activist and three students of the college on July 1. The same day, Soumyashree filed another complaint against Sahoo with the committee.
“The ICC report is haphazard. Although there were three student members in the ICC, they were not present during the inquiry because of their ongoing exams,” said Subhra Sambit Nayak, a student of FM College and ABVP state joint secretary.