UC College Aluva students start 'Me Too' campaign, exposes harassment by a professor

A complaint has now been submitted to the UC College’s Principal, who has promised to consider it and initiate an inquiry through its Internal Complaints Commitee.
Sexual assault
Sexual assault

An Instagram page started by a group of students from Aluva’s Union Christian (UC) College has sparked a Me Too movement in its campus. Papicha, the Instagram handle was started on August 16 as a discussion forum for feminist politics in Kerala. But a video posted by the page on August 20 has sparked discussions on sexual harassment experienced by UC College students.

The women in the video have raised an allegation against a professor who they say heads one of the Departments in the college. The accused has been a faculty member of the institute for more than 10 years. He has been accused of touching a former student inappropriately in the college canteen.

Speaking in the video, the former student says that she felt uncomfortable as he held her inappropriately, while she was a third year student at the college . “When I asked him why he did that, he said he had no idea what I was talking about. I explained to him that I felt uncomfortable with the way he touched me, and he said that that was not his intention and that I was misinterpreting or reading too much into the incident,” she says in the video.

She also added that he never apologised or admitted to his mistake. “He said that I was one of the few students in the college that he was fond of and hence he thought could take the ‘liberty’ with me. He also continuously said that I was making this issue and that I was misinterpreting his actions. As he is still teaching at the college, I feel compelled to share my experiences so that no other student would have such an experience” she added.

According to the page’s creators, the handle, consisting of 8 founding members, have received at least five complaints against the same professor.

“Some of them are anonymous. Others have narrated similar experiences as our friend in the video. But none of them have filed a complaint against the professor yet,” one of the page’s founders, Asra, told TNM.

The page now has 1000 plus followers and 830 odd comments on the video. They have also received sexual harassment complaints from students of other colleges in Kerala against their faculty members.

“Our friend in the video has formally filed a complaint against the accused professor with the Principal of UC College, David Saj Mathew,” Asra added. The UC college administration will now forward it to their Internal Complaints Committee and the Sexual Harassment Cell and the complainants and professor will be called in for an internal inquiry. 

A group of super-senior alumna of the college have also drafted a mail to UC’s Principal, supporting the complainant and seeking swift action in the case.

“As alumni of the college, we believe that it's our duty to support the survivor and also help initiate a systemic change in the college with regard to redressal of harassment complaints and gender sensitisation. In this regard, we have written a letter declaring our support to the survivor, demanding an inquiry into the matter, pointing out the major issues in the college and putting forward some demands,” their letter read. A Google Spreadsheet also includes the number of students who have endorsed this letter and supported demands for swift inquiry and action. 

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