Raya Sarkar's glad how survivors have found unquestioning empathy

Its possibly the most controversial laundry list of recent time When Raya Sarkar an Indian law student in America published a list on her Facebook page accusing close to 50 professors from top Indian institutes of sexual harassment India said the MeToo movement is here Curated on the basis of what she called firsthand testimonials Sarkars list published in 2017 and shared over 1000 times pinned the blame on political scientist Partha Chatterjee and Jadavpur Universitys Abhijit Gupta among othersSarkars method of outing the alleged accused was called out by noted feminists including JNUs Nivedita Menon who said It worries us that anybody can be named anonymously with lack of answerabilitySarkar who is currently preparing for the California Bar Examination said to midday in an email interview that one year on the scenario is very different Edited excerptsYou have spoken briefly about your own experience of abuse Can you recount itI have survived sexual assault and sexual harassment in the past In one case I had approached the police in the country it took place The police sat on the case and did nothing That was the first time due process failed meWhat led you to put out a list of alleged sexual offenders across education institutes in 2017 Why did you focus only on academiciansI was outraged the way Carol Christine Fair professor at Georgetown University was treated by a media channel the professor had tweeted that GOP senators deserve miserable deaths and was suspended from Twitter She had alleged that the conservative news outlet Campus Reform had bullied and harassed her asking her to clarify her tweets I was a student then and academia hit closest to home The MeToo movement in the US as well as the work of sexual assault whistleblowers in South Asia like Bhanwari Devi and Phoolan Devi encouraged me to create the list to provide closure to survivors and to warn other womenWhat happened right after you put out the list Did life changeYes My inbox blew up with messages of solidarity from the survivors who had helped create the list I also received hate mail Several prominent feminists condemned the list on Kafila to everyones shock and surprise and I think they did so because they were untrusting of me and were trying to protect their friends and acquaintances mentioned in the list This led to widespread debate and many called the list a witchhunt I am glad the discourse has changed today and I am glad so many people are empathetic towards survivors this time round They deserve empathyWhy did you and your supporters refuse to share whereabouts of the incidents and date details assuming you had those details in the first placeI did not want to share details for the lascivious entertainment of people who were hungry to consume trauma porn so they could gossip The reason I did not share details was because the survivors feared detection and professional retribution against them They wished to stay anonymous and did not want to lose their careers The list was not a deposition statement in a court of law It was a list of closure and cautionWhat do you believe a list such as this achieves other than shame alleged offenders You believe students referred to your list before taking a call on which university to approachI think the list helped women figure out if the person who allegedly sexually harassed them had also harassed others Many women messaged me about men I had placed on the list to add their testimonies and offer supporting evidence Some had no idea that they werent the only ones who had an alleged bad experience This helped figure out a pattern that would help if they were to ever pursue due process and prosecute In addition it offered many women closure I am unsure if it affected student applicationsPolitical scientist Partha Chatterjee in response to your reply that his name will not be taken down because details of incidents and dates are missing he said As far as I understand it Raya Sarkars post in response to my statement suggests that no further information will be made available on the allegation against me It is justified to conclude that the alleged complaint against me has no substance He placed the ball back in your court Either spell out the charges or admit you have no case the alleged accused are saying How much responsibility does a woman who takes to social media to out a sexual harasser need to takeI do have the right to make allegations and yet choose not to share details with him the accused I have never revealed any details without the consent of the women who had reported the same to me If the accused pursues litigation I will cooperate with the court but I am not legally bound to respond to himCritics of the campaign say women prefer to remain anonymous and shoot from the dark on social media This is a violation of mens rights You too have advocated filing a complaint rather than approach an internal committee Why not come out and file an FIRI have already spoken at length about the demerits of due process procedures Accessibility to justice is very poor Filing an FIR is complex and often the police refuse to accept complaints passing them off as frivolous Many universities do not have functional ICCs and students and workers often do not know how to pursue due process when these institutions are not presentDoes bringing the political into the personal youve indicated that you are against the exploitative Left establishment dilute the core issue which is the vulnerability of women and a denial of their rights irrespective of their caste and economic statusI am not categorically against the Left I am unhappy that sexual harassment within the Left is not adequately addressed We cannot look at womens rights as a monolith Power doesnt work that way Intersectional power hierarchies affect womens experiences and we need to keep them in mind to best serve the most vulnerable in any societyHave you been following the campaign in India over the last few weeks post actor Tanushree Dattas complaint against veteran actor Nana Patekar What do you make of it and where do you think it will leadI am following the MeToo moment in Bollywood I sincerely hope this triggers changes in labour laws The workers in Bollywood need strong unions that represent them so that bosses are held accountable Labour violations are a huge issue in the entertainment industry in my opinion and I hope more folk working there feel confident enough to publicly talk about harassment and file cases against perpetrators who are influential and powerful There needs to be a supportive framework and resourcesAlong with the real allegations there are also incidents of toxic relationships taking over the net Do you think these are diluting the focusThey do not dilute any movement We should be discussing the ways in which women navigate through trauma and the ways in which people negotiate power in our society to survive We should talk about bad sex stealthing the act of a man surreptitiously removing the condom during intercourse consent for intercourse with condom doesnt extend to intercourse without a condom unsolicited pictures of peoples genitals what consent means and does not mean We must discuss everything People are still creating a language to express things that they have experienced but could never put in words I think limiting the discourse disrupts this processWhat advice would you give women who are in such relationships Would you tell everyone to speak here and nowIt is often impossible to speak here and now because for the longest time people do not know how to recognise the red flags because we are socialised to please and never disappoint men The process of unconditioning from the patriarchal mindset takes time People should not demand that everyone quit such relationships and then blame them for not leaving soon enough especially when the nature and limits of consent bad sex and patterns of abuse are never taught to people or even discussed We need to discuss all this as a community and share knowledgeCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates