The Cell for Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women was established in the academic year 2008-09. Originally meant for women in the workplace it was decided in 2010-11 to extend the cell’s scope of activities to students as well. The Committee has been constituted as per the norms of SPPU. A lawyer and a member from an NGO are included as members of the Cell. The Cell adopted the name ‘Nirbhaya’ in the meeting dated 11.07.2012. Meetings of the Committee are held twice a year.
This cell organizes various programs
Interactive Sessions:
- An audio visual and interactive session for staff and students was arranged with the NGO Samyak and its founder Dr Anand Pawar (part of the research team for the TV series Satyamev Jayate) on 07.12.2012.
- An interactive session for students was held with Asst. Sub-Inspector Sunita Salunke of Deccan Gymkhana Police Station on 21.09.2013. She shared her experiences as a member of the police force regarding eve teasing on and off campus.
- A meeting to interact with girl students on 22nd September 2014 to introduce the staff members and orient the students about the activities of the Cell. In this interaction, the teachers explained what constitutes ‘harassment and the mechanism of complaint’.
Workshops:
- A Workshop on Self Defense for Girl Students was held on 25.01.2014. This workshop coached more than 200 girls from First Year B.A and B.Sc. on the basic techniques of self-defense. The workshop was conducted by Shri Balkrishna Bhandari and his team.
Awareness Campaigns:
- Posters of the Nirbhaya Committee were put up on campus in the last week of February 2013 giving details of whom to contact in cases of emergency.
- In the month of October in 2014, posters building awareness about sexual harassment were put up on the campus and girl students were encouraged to report cases of misconduct or harassment.
- A street play based on the subject of eve teasing and sexual harassment was jointly organized with the NGO Abhivyakti on 13th December 2014 in the college ground.
Feedback:
- Feedback from students was sought through a simple questionnaire in the first week of January 2013. This questionnaire addressed the safety of students on campus and noted down suggestions they had in this regard. Some noteworthy suggestions like introducing a hotline or organization of self-defense workshops were made.
Lectures:
- Dr. Mangesh Kulkarni, Department of Political Science, SPPU (‘Masculinity in and the Indian Context’). The lecture was held on 06.10.2012
- Dr. Jyoti Bhakare’s lecture (Laws against Sexual Harassment) for teaching and non-teaching staff was organized on 22.10.2014.