2013

SAFETY AUDIT PARIVARTAN: THE GENDER FORUM

KIRORI MAL COLLEGE

University of Delhi

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CONTENTS

1.INTRODUCTION

2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.EVIDENCE

4. ANALYSIS

5. CONCLUSION

6. LIMITATIONS

Appendix: Questionnaire

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INTRODUCTION

This safety audit was conducted in the North Campus area of Delhi University by

Parivartan, the gender forum of Kirori Mal College. The purpose of this audit was to

understand the sense of security and safety that women feel in and around Delhi

University North Campus. It is a pilot project, restricted to a limited area as well as

sample space.

In the wake of the horrific Delhi gang rape case which happened on 16th of December,

2012 and the historical context of continued sexual violence in the region, a need was felt

to assess the level of security that women have in and around the University area to see

how safe the campus is for women and which areas need attention.

The student body of Parivartan (either individually or in teams of two/three) surveyed

163 people, cutting across different age groups – asking them questions listed in the

questionnaire prepared for the survey (a copy of which is attached as appendix). The

responses were noted down by the surveyors and subsequently collated and analyzed.

The population selected for the survey was all female, whose age distribution is

tabulated below.

Age group No. of respondents

1. 18-23 150

2. 24-28 9

3. 27+ 4

Working on our project targeting various north campus localities and stretches (listed in

appendix A) took us around 20 days. Further qualitative and quantitative analysis

followed in our group meetings ensuring the collaboration of all surveyors for the

compilation of the final results.

Any queries/comments apropos of this survey and/or the findings thereof can be

directed to :

Staff Advisor (Parivartan,

KMC)

Email

Shahana Bhattacharya shahanabhattacharya@gmail.com

AmrapaliBasumatary tara.stella@gmail.com

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Student member

(Parivartan , KMC)

Email

Gaurav Kumar scarlet_intentions@yahoo.com

Riya Raphael raphaelites@gmail.com

A rough sketch of the area surveyed for reference :

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A questionnaire containing 13 queries related to various aspects of campus safety was

prepared by the student body of Parivartan. Five of these were multiple-choice or yes/no

type questions; the rest were open-ended. The north campus area of Delhi University

was systematically divided into specific zones, each of which wasdesignated to a team of

two or three student members. The respondents in each zone were encouraged to take

their time and come up with whatever additional insights they wanted to share while the

surveyors recorded the same in the notebooks assigned for the purpose.

After the area was covered and surveyed as planned, the responses to multiple-choice

and numeric questions (viz. rating the campus on a safety scale) were sorted into

frequency distributions. For open-ended questions, different responses were coded and

grouped for the ease of analysis and visual representation. Internal responses and bias

factors (e.g. age) were analyzed simultaneously.

EVIDENCE

The next few pages present the findings of the survey in an integrated format. The

responses to various questions as depicted formed the base of evidence for the analysis

which follows.

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Q1.How often have you found yourself stared at, have had lewd comments

passed at of have been subjected to any other form of harassment?

Q2. What time do you avoid in and around the University for fear of being

harassed?

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Q3. What areas in and around the university do you avoid for the fear of

being harassed?

Q4. Have you been subjected to some form of curfew?

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Q5. Does curfew actually change anything?

Q6. Do you feel safe with police/police establishment around?

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Q7. If you have ever been harassed, how did you respond in such a

situation?

Q8. Have you attempted filing a complaint (In police, College Complaints

Committee, etc) or approached someone for help?

Q9. What was your experience when you reported?

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Q10. Have you ever tried calling the various helpline numbers issued for

such cases?

Q11. Have you ever been approached by somebody in distress who needed

help against being harassed? Did you help or not and why?

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Q12. What is the most common reason which would stop you from reporting

an act of harassment?

Q13.What according to you could be a possible solution to such a situation?

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Q14. Rate the campus in terms of safety on a scale of 0-10.

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List of the areas covered within the North Campus area, the number of

responses according to the specific locations and names of the students who

conducted the survey :

AREAS NO. OF RESPONSES SURVEYOR(S)

Metro station 22 Trishla, Kanika, Dimple

D. School + Hindu College 16

Anushree, Anugya

Patel Chest+ Arts Faculty 16

Shubham, Riya Raphael

Hostel 6 Gaurav, Aditi

Khalsa+ Miranda House 11

Gaurav, Aditi

FMS + Kamla Nagar (Chowk

between Hansraj and Kamla

Nagar market)

10

Riya Gupta, Jagrat

KMC+ Ramjas 23 Jagrat

KMC+ Hansraj 21 Aapurv, Deepti

Inside Kamala Nagar,

private PGs , Malakaganj

15

Prashant

Ramjas, Faculty of Law 8

Pallavi, Prabhash

Stephen‟s, DSE, Hindu 15 Anushree, Anugya

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ANALYSIS

“Every man I meet wants to protect me. I can't figure out what from.”

― Mae West

Safety is such an ambiguous word. More so for women in a city like Delhi, where a Honey

Singh concert is synonymous with a stampede and where masculine aggression rules the

streets especially after dusk, like a monarch who is so drunk on his power that he, almost

rightfully, anticipates no challenge.

Given the presence of the intelligentsia and an educated, diverse crowd on the Delhi

University registers which is supposed to set and refine the standards for the rest of the

society, one would expect the picture to be less murky within its premises. A survey

conducted by the students of the gender forum, Kirori Mal College - Parivartan, however,

contradicts this idea of the university. Women feel unsafe even within the limits of the

very institution which is supposed to give them lessons in empowerment and challenging

the status quo.

In the wake of the horrific gang rape case which happened on 16thdec, ‟12 and as we look

forward to another International Women‟s Day, it becomes important to let the

implications of this statement sink in: The North Campus area of one of the premier

universities of the country is not safe for its female students. This awareness though does

not arise from the immediate gravity of the 16th December incident which sent shock

waves not only throughout the city but even beyond the boundaries of the country; it is

disturbing to note that this survey also comes out of the general history of Delhi

University North Campus as being „always‟ unsafe for generations of university

communities. The history of this campus can very well be also traced through the history

of incidents and culture of sexual violence that occur within and around the campus.

When asked as to how often have they found themselves stared at, have had lewd

comments passed at or have been subjected to any other form of sexual harassment, a

whopping 56.4% of the females surveyed responded with “Very often”. Many of them

emphasized on the fact that “Comments aur staring to bahot aam baat hai” to the extent

that they “have lost count”of the times they had been harassed, sometimes all in a day.

The rest of the 12.8%, who ardently said that they had not faced any kind of sexual

harassment, make one think about the varied understanding of the term “sexual

harassment”, whether they viewed „staring‟, or „passing comments‟ as an act of

harassment or not. Another view could be that they did not want to accept that they had

been harassed, that it was something embarrassing or unmentionable. Both these stances

are disturbing because either there is a lack of awareness about the meaning of “sexual

harassment” or the „guilt baggage‟ of sexual harassment that the Indian society puts on

women is too heavy.

Most of the 163 women surveyed felt more unsafe during evening and night. Some of

them, especially the ones who stay in campus, noted the lack of street lights on many of

the main roads, while others spoke about bikers and car owners who drive and behave

rashly.

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The next query dealt with the areas women avoid in and around the University area for

the fear of being harassed. The respondents came up with various answers including

areas around specific colleges (Kirori Mal , Ramjas, St. Stephen‟s, Faculty of Law, Hindu

College among others), Patel Chest, Chatra Marg, around VC office, the ridge, Cavalry

Lines, the vicinity of the Vishwavidyalaya metro station and the stretch consisting

Bungalow Road, Kamla Nagar , Vijay Nagar and Malkaganj. The even distribution of

responses in regard to all the areas mentioned in the questionnaire demonstrates that it

is not any one specific area which is deemed unsafe but rather the entire campus and

neighbourhood.

Next, people were asked if they had been subjected to some sort of „curfew‟ in light of

the recent events. After the 16th December 2012 gangrape incident it was „understood‟

that women would be told to stay home, return early or to maintain a dress code. Out of

the 163 female respondents, 62% were bound by a time curfew, while 38% did not really

have any defined time but were told “to be alert” -”dhyan rakhna” and so on . The

discontentment in this regard was very clear with 64% of the interviewees asserting that

imposing such restrictions was totally pointless and unfair when, as it is, they have to face

various forms of harassment all day long. The problem, they pointed out, lies outside the

crowd which is being policed and monitored – the women. Awarding safety as policing,

control and different curfew timings for boys‟ and girls‟ hostel, and not ensuring safety as

a universal right, therefore, doesn‟t make sense.

Talking about helpline numbers for women and police, 70% of the respondents admitted

that they do not feel safe with the increased police presence in the area, while 83.5% of

them had never tried calling a helpline number. A group of girls mentioned how they

had tried various helpline numbers and had realized that none of them work as

promised.

The next few questions were concerned with the various reactions to acts of sexual

harassment. When quizzed about their own responses to such acts, 60.7% said that

ignoring a situation of sexual harassment was better. 34.3% said that they had

responded, either by staring back at the offender, or by abusing; some also recounted

the incidents when they were forced to lash out, like this girl who mentioned how she

had used taekwondo to scare off a stalker. The rest, 5%, said that they usually choose to

ignore such situations and act upon them only when they get persistent.

Only 26 out of the 163 respondents had either complained at the police station or with

their College Complaints Committee. Most of them were skeptical about the police and

felt that “Woh toh kuch bhi nahi karti hai” and “Wahan jane ka matlab ulte seedhe sawalon

ka jawab dena hai”. Most of the college going crowd, especially the undergraduate

students, were unaware of the College Complaints Committee.

19 out of the 26 respondents who had reported faced a bad experience in the police

station. Some of them said that the F.I.R was written but nothing came out of it. Another

girl told us about an incident when she went to file an F.I.R and the police officers

requested her not to file it, because the transgressor was a policeman.

Seven women who had reported mentioned that they had been helped after reporting

about the sexual harassment they had faced. One of them had approached the College

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Complaints Committee with a case of stalking; she told us that they had been helpful and

the harassment had stopped after reporting it.

Subsequently when the respondents were interrogated about the factors which would

stop them from reporting such acts of harassment, most felt that “Koi fayda nahi hai”, “

gharwalon ki suno aur police walon ki bhi”. The majority, 39.2%, attributed it to a sense of

futility arising mainly from the indifferent and discouraging attitude of the officials and

authorities concerned. Others cited embarrassment, familial/social pressure and threats

from the offenders as the possible reasons. Threat from the offender/s was also the

primary reason as to why the respondents (73.20%) would hesitate in helping any victims

who approached them for help. However, there were some interesting responses which

came up, where a few girls insisted that nothing would stop them from reporting an act of

harassment and that it was better to report than to stay silent. But the numbers of such

voices of conviction are considerably low.

Towards the end, the respondents were urged to suggest possible solutions. Despite the

large banners that shouted out “Kill the rapists” or “torture the perpetrators” during the

protests in December, the survey revealed that most women - 46.6% feel that unless the

society as a whole would change, paving way for a more gender sensitive and equitable

environment, stricter laws or better implementation of these laws would not help. While

many blamed the upbringing of boys, others spoke about the lack of gender studies and

sex education in schools. Most of them strongly opposed the comments and attitudes of

the people in power as well as the media.

Almost 20% of the respondents asked for more police booths and more women police

personnel. Some also pointed out the importance of a more sustained and intensive

gender sensitizing training process for the police. Others went with censorship of

misogynist representations in art, media (predictably, some of Honey Singh‟s songs

were quoted as examples) and pornographic or explicit movies.

Around 17% of the respondents felt that the matter had to be taken in their own hands,

starting from using pepper spray to taser guns to learning self-defence. These women

felt that the authorities were “of no use” and that “Hume hi strong hona parega”.

For the last question, the responders were asked to rate the campus area on a safety

scale of 0-10. The majority – 76% rated it between 4 to7. 13.5% felt that the campus was

really unsafe, giving it a rating of 0-4.

An inconsistency, ergo, is visible in the responses here. People mentioned being

harassed quite often but would not rate the campus as unsafe or very unsafe.Most went

for the moderately safe option because people generally have the tendency to opt for the

median, rather than choosing the extremes. It also reeks of „normalising‟ sexual

harassment as part of day to day existence in and around the campus.

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CONCLUSION

Delhi University is a premier institution of higher education which is widely regarded as

the merging locus of the best young minds in our country. Hundreds of issues relating to

society are taken up each year within and outside classrooms and curricula, and as

university students they have the space and time to deal with these issues through

decidedly sorted out, refreshing and inclusive approaches like debates, dialogues, study

and readings. It is very strange then, that the same institutional area which produces and

nurtures such talented people for the larger society should also harbour such disturbing

elements which make 76% respondents deem the campus area as unsafe. It is very

disturbing that this campus could very well be the space like any other area in the city,

where the 16th December incident could happen.

The juxtaposition of the young, „educated‟, college-going crowd with such disturbing

acts of sexual harassment is unsettling, to say the least, and warrants immediate attention

of the authorities concerned. A space meant for learning and shaping of intellect should

not be allowed to regress into one where fear shapes the behaviour and performance of

half of the community. This comes across as not just a violation of the meaning of equality

and a learning space, but as a failure of the collective, which cannot be brushed under

the carpet anymore. It also brings us to the fundamental question of how we imagine and

understand university spaces and its relationship with the neighbourhood and society in

general.

The report is a small indicator and points to the widespread nature of sexual harassment

in the Delhi University‟s North Campus. On the eve of the International Women‟s Day on

8 March, it needs to be remembered that sexual harassment on Delhi University‟s

campus has been one long standing issue that needs to be addressed immediately by the

authorities. The right of young women and men at DU to study and learn in an

atmosphere free from anxiety and fear of harassment is a part of their fundamental right

to equality and freedom. The survey‟s findings are a sad reminder that a large number of

students of Delhi University are denied this right every day. In the midst of bringing

about massive changes and „reforms‟ very rapidly, it is unfortunate that the Delhi

University administration has failed to prioritize this issue in its agenda of „reform‟. We

hope that many such surveys will be conducted by other student groups across the

campus and that this issue will be taken seriously by the University.

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LIMITATIONS

1. Sample size: The sample size is small and largely has been restricted to the age

group of 19-25 years of age, therefore the responses and the views cannot be

generalized.

2. Research Methodology: Interviews were conducted as well as questionnaires

were given out to be filled, with a defined set of questions, out of which few were

multiple choice while most were open-ended. But since the idea was to achieve a

qualitative analysis, it was difficult to compile and analyze the data in an

integrated form.

3. Lack of Expertise: The survey has been planned, conducted as well as analyzed

by undergraduate students who lack the professional expertise.

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Appendix : The Questionnaire used

PARIVARTAN-The Gender Forum

KIRORI MAL COLLEGE

Safety Audit

Q1. How often have you found yourself stared at, have had lewd comments passed at of have been

subjected to any other form of harassment?

Q2. What time do you avoid in and around the university for the fear of being harassed?

a) Morning (7AM-12PM )

b) Afternoon (12- 4PM)

c) Evening (4-8 PM)

d) Night (after 8)

Q3. What areas in and around the university do you avoid for the fear of being harassed?

Q4.Have you ever been subjected to a curfew, keeping in view the current situation? What kind of

curfew is it and does it stop harassment or change anything?

Q5.Do you feel safe with police/police establishment around?

Q6. If you have ever been harassed, how did you respond in such a situation?

Q7. Have you attempted filing a complaint (In police, College complaints committee, etc) or

approached someone for help?

Q8. What was your experience there?

Q9. Have you ever tried calling the various helpline numbers issued for such cases?

Yes/No

Q10. Have you ever been approached by somebody in distress who needed help against being

harassed? Did you help or not and why?

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Q11. What is the most common reason which would stop you from reporting an act of

harassment(For example: Embarrassment, Threat, A sense of futility)?

Q12. What according to you could be a possible solution to such a situation?

Q13.Rate the campus in terms of safety on scale of 10(0-10) .