Awareness campaign on prevention of sexual harassment carried out at SMVDU

Srinagar, Dec 6: The Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) in Collaboration with National Service Scheme (NSS) and National Cadet Corps (NCC), Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) organised a one day awareness campaign on “Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women and Students in Higher Educational Institution” at Matrika Auditorium, SMVDU.

The event was inaugurated with the national anthem. Sexual harassment is a serious problem throughout the globe including higher educational institutions. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has already issued directions to deal with issues of gender based violence and gender sensitisation programmes. The objective of this one day event was to spread awareness among the stakeholders of SMVDU in particular and higher educational institutions in general for preventing such harassment.

The Guest Speaker of the event was Advocate and Legal Consultant, Kiran Thakur. Thakur highlighted that "harassment" is not a one-time action; it often involves repeated offensive, unwelcome behaviour that continues over time. It can be in words, actions or gestures that make someone feel uncomfortable, intimidated or humiliated.

"This ongoing mistreatment can have serious effects on a person's well-being, such as, mental health issues, loss of self-esteem, difficulty in working or living peacefully."

Speaker elaborated on the POSH Act, 2013 and University Grants Commission (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women Employees and Students in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2015.

Vice Chancellor SMVDU, Prof Pragati Kumar, Chief Guest of the event congratulated the organising team for making effort to expand the awareness on sexual harassment in SMVDU. He added that the host University is named after the divine mother that emphasises more responsibility on SMVDU members to respect, protect women and make them aware of their rights. He further pointed out that the moral value of equality should never be forgotten and communication should be maintained regularly to avoid such incidents.

Ajay Kumar Sharma, Registrar SMVDU (JKAS), faculty members, non-teaching staff and students of SMVDU and SMVD College of Nursing attended the awareness campaign. Inclusion of Rangoli competition, poster making and awareness rally made the awareness campaign more effective and appealing. Prizes were awarded to the winners.

The organising committee of the event comprised Dr Kakali Majumdar, Dr Kamini Pathania, Rajesh Sharma, Ritu Sharma, Tanya Sharma, Members of the ICC; Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Dr. Kamaldeep, the Coordinators of NSS Unit; Dr Varun Dutta from NCC Unit of SMVDU, Jaipal Singh Jamwal, staff associated with ICC and student volunteers of NSS and NCC. The campaign successfully completed with an awareness rally.