DU’s IP College For Women probe panel misses deadline

Panel which was formed on April 3 yet to even meet students seeking action against perpetrators

NEW DELHI: Delhi University (DU) committee formed to probe the harassment incident at the all-women IP College for Women has missed the deadline to submit its first report and is even yet to meet the students who have been seeking action against the perpetrators.

The committee was constituted on April 3 and was supposed to submit its first report within a week.
Headed by Prakash Singh, the South Campus director, the committee since its constitution has only held one meeting and according to a university official, it will meet on Thursday to finalise the guidelines.
The members of the committee are yet to hold meetings with or speak to students who have held a series of protests, demanding action against the perpetrators and accountability on the part of the college.
A university official confirmed that no report has been submitted so far.

“We held a meeting last week. We are holding the second meeting tomorrow. We have held talks with the principal (Poonam Kumria) warden, and the union advisor. We are preparing a set of guidelines to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in the future,” said the official, who is also part of the committee.
Asked whether a report has been submitted, the official said, “No, we couldn’t submit the report because there were too many holidays last week.” The students have alleged that some men climbed the college campus boundary and harassed several women students during a cultural festival on March 28. Following their protests, the DU formed a committee to look into “the grievances raised by the students” and asked the panel to submit its report in a week.

Meanwhile,  the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) in its report on Wednesday on an incident of harassment at the educational institution said a lack of coordination between police and the Indraprastha College over the organisation of a fest and inadequate security arrangements led to protest.

The DCW has put forward its interim recommendations to the city police, the IP College For Women and the Delhi University (DU) in the matter. The police registered an FIR in the matter on the day of the incident itself and the college forwarded 231 complaints and representations to them on April 4.    

Developments so far

• On March 28, a group of men allegedly entered Indraprastha College for Women in Delhi University by scaling the boundary walls and harassing students participating in its annual festival.
• On March 29, the students protested inside the campus while a group of activists from AISA and SFI demonstrated outside.
• The same day, DCW issued a notice to the police and the college administration, seeking an explanation for lapse in security during the festival. It also sought an action-taken report by April 3.
• On April 3, DU constituted a committee headed by Prakash Singh, director of South Campus, to probe the incident

On April 11, DCW released interim recommendations, asking Delhi Police to ‘urgently collect and analyse complete CCTV footage of the incident so that perpetrators are arrested’