'Girls supposed to know how to draw a line with male friends': JNU circular invites student unions' ire

A circular for a counselling session by Jawaharlal Nehru University JNU on sexual harassment which says girls are supposed to know how to draw a tangible line between them and their male friends has drawn the ire of student outfits who said it reeks of victim shamingThe internal complaints committee ICC of the JNU had uploaded the circular on the varsitys website saying that it will organise a counselling session on sexual harassment on January 17 It also said that such sessions will be organised on a monthly basisUnder the subhead why is the counselling session required the circular said that it will make students aware about what consists of sexual harassmentIt also said that students are being counselled during the orientation programme and on the inception of each academic year they need to refresh their knowledge about the same time to timeICC come across a number of cases where sexual harassment takes place among close friends Boys generally cross sometimes advertently sometimes inadvertently the thin line between friendships bantering and sexual harassment Girls suppose to know how to draw a tangible line between them and their male friends to avoid any such harassments sic the circular readIt also stated that the ICC has a zerotolerance policy towards any kind of sexual harassmentNumber of cases have been dealt with successfully in this academic year In addition to its usual course of action ICC JNU would like to introduce a counselling session on a monthly basis for all aspiring students who want to know dos and donts in regard of sexual harassment read the circularIt said that students will get to know what is sexual harassment and its prospective repercussions in the sessionsListing out the benefits of these sessions the varsity said that the number of sexual harassment cases will be reduced for sureDissipate any confusion related to sexual harassment Anyone could get answer of ones queries related to sexual harassment said the circularIt said that after getting 20 such forms for registration for the session the ICC will organise such events on a monthly basisOn the girls are suppose to know how to draw a tangible line between them and their male friends statement in the circular Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Aishe Ghosh said it was a victim shaming remarkThe ICC in JNU makes a blatant victim blaming remark where it asks women to draw a tangible line to not get harassed by their male members The ICC time and again in JNU has passed such regressive remarks or conducted itself in a way to moral police the survivor she said in a statementSuch a remark creates a space where harassment in such lines will become rampant and will lead to become an unsafe space for women Ghosh saidThe leftaffiliated All India Students Association AISA concurred with Ms Ghosh and called the counselling session a shamThe ICC of JNU has come up with a notice regarding counselling session for JNU students regarding sexual harrasment In one of the reasons for requiring such a session ICC writes girls suppose to know how to draw a tangible line between them and their male friends to avoid any such harassments This exposes the attitude of victim blaming which the ICC has been practising the student outfit saidThis counselling session is a sham and will only lead to making JNU an unsafe space for women it saidThe JNU administration replaced the Gender Sensitisation Committee against Sexual Harassment GSCASH with the ICC in September 2017 in its 269th executive council meeting a move which was extensively criticised by student and teacher bodies apart from womens rights organisationsBoth Ms Ghosh and AISA demanded the reinstatement of GSCASHThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever