VIVEKANANDA MAHAVIDYALAYA

Internal Complaint Committee

Background and Rationale:

Sexual harassment infringes on the following two fundamental rights provided by the Constitution of India:

1. The right of a woman to gender equality under Article 14 and
2. Women’s right of life and live with dignity under Article 21.

In 1997 Supreme Court provided clear guidelines regarding sexual harassment. Following that guidelines, the committee for Managing Gender Issues has been set up as Internal Complaint Committee (ICC). This would normally limits its outcome to resolution, settlement and prosecution along with creating awareness, counseling and educating about the gender issues.

Objectives:

1. To develop a policy against sexual harassment
2. To ensure the implementation of the policy in letter and spirit through proper reporting of the complains and their follow up procedure.
3. To provide an environment free of gender based discrimination
4. To promote a social and psychological environment to raise awareness on sexual harassment on its various forms and also to secure physical and social environment.
5. To evolve a permanent mechanism to prevent and redresses the sexual harassment cases and other acts of gender based violence at the institute.

Jurisdiction:

The policy and the rules and regulations would apply to all the stakeholders like students, faculty and non-teaching staffs on active roles of Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya, Haripal, Hooghly. It would also apply to service providers and outsiders who may be within the territory of this institute at time of commission of the act coming under the jurisdiction of this policy.

Power and duties:

The committee is not to act as a moral police neither intervenes on anyone’s privacy. The role of the committee is to create awareness about sexual harassment and to deal and recommend punishment for coercive act of sexual harassment and not to curtail sexual expression within the campus.

1. Prevention: Create and ensure a safe environment.
2. Gender sensitization: This involves creating awareness about issues of gender and creating an enabling environment of gender justice where all can work together with the sense of personal security and dignity.
3. Remedial: The mechanism of registering complaints should be safe, accessible and sensitive.

Composition:

According to UGC guidelines ICC has a membership of one Chairperson, three teaching faculties, tow non-teaching staff, one member appointed from non-government organization and the student member (in cases the matter is student related).

In our college the committee members are:

• Chairperson: Dr. Kakali Sharma, Associate professor
• Teaching members: Dr. Bidhan Chandra Biswas, Associate professor
  • Ms. Priyanka Choudhury, Associate professor
  • Ms. Soma Mitra, Librarian
  • Non-teaching members: Mr. RabindraNath Barui, Office clerk
    • Mr, Goutam Kumar Majhi, Lab. Attendant
  • Member from NGO:   Ms. Debjani Ghoshal, Advocate, Calcutta High Court
  • Three student members (in case of student related matters)

Downloads:

• Prevention of sexual harassment act
• UGC guideline regarding ICC