As frequent incidents of harassment and violence against students — particularly girls — continue to raise concerns for their safety across the country, female students in the city have perhaps considered sharing their own harassment complaints by dropping a letter in the blue grievance boxes placed at every city college by the Pune Police. But, if they’re hoping that their complaint will lead to immediate action, they are in for disappointment.

As part of an old initiative to protect female students in the city, the police had placed complaint boxes at colleges all over the city, such as this one at Tikaram Jagannath College in Khadki. Pic/ Dattatraya Adhalge

As part of a women’s safety initiative that goes back several years, the police had placed complaint boxes at colleges across the city, specifically for female students with any grievances about teasing or any other form of harassment. In an attempt to find out how efficient the system of the complaint boxes is, and how often the police or college administrations check them, mid-day dropped some dummy complaints at a few prominent city colleges.