Year on, varsity sits on PUCASH suggestions

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 12

The Panjab University (PU) authorities have failed to pay heed to any of the recommendations made by the PU Committee Against Sexual Harassment (PUCASH) in last year’s sexual harassment incident at the botanical garden, which is situated on the university premises. The lapse on the part of the PU authorities will now be discussed at the Syndicate meeting tomorrow.

The matter had reached the panel in August last year when a PU student alleged that she was accosted at the botanical garden by a person whom she believed was a gardener employed by the university.

In her complaint to the PUCASH, she had asserted that she was waiting for a friend at the garden around 5:10 pm when she was accosted by a person. The committee was apprised that earlier too, there had been incidents of outsiders entering the botanical garden from its rear.

The PUCASH had then observed that there was easy access to the botanical garden from various areas. The back wall is broken and can be scaled easily. The pharmacy garden or the medicinal garden provides easy access to the botanical garden.

Chandigarh Tribune accessed the PUCASH recommendations in the year-old case and learnt that none of these were taken seriously by the authorities.

The committee had recommended that a wall should be constructed in front of the garden or the hedge bordering the garden should be raised to keep trespassers at bay. A wall or a barbed wire should separate the medicinal garden and the botanical garden. It was also recommended that any person entering the garden should record her/his entry and exit time in a register, which should be placed at the gate. Besides, the panel recommended that the security person in charge of locking the gate should be instructed to ensure that no one is left inside the garden when the gate is locked.

The committee had strongly recommended that the security at the botanical garden should be strengthened. A wall on the rear border should be repaired and raised to prevent the entry of outsiders. A barbed wire should come up on the rear wall. Cameras should be installed at critical points in the garden, which should have a guard 24X7.

However, the PU did not implement any of these recommendations.

As a result, another incident took place at the garden on December 9.

The girl, who faced harassment last year, said, “After learning about the recent incident of molestation at the botanical garden, I recounted the ordeal I had faced during the inquiry of my complaint. I want to question the authorities, what happened to the recommendations made in my case as another molestation incident has happened now.”

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