A lot remains to be achieved in India as far as our legal rhetoric and recourse is concerned; especially when many laws, regulations and bills protecting women fail to deliver justice. Be it the TERI Pachauri case, Justice for Jisha and Delta and countless women struggling against gender and caste-based violence, sexual assault, rapes and discrimination, the justice system seems to be taking their own sweet time catching up to the need of the hour. The University Grants Commission appears to be one institution keen on playing catch up, however, having passed a new regulation in which sexual harassment will now be seen through a gender-neutral lens. This means male and transgender students can now file complaints against the culprits.
But to understand this new ‘rule’ in the context of already existing laws and our deeply patriarchal society is also important. To begin with, the constitution already included existing laws that call for the general and overall protection from sexual assault for all genders (this includes transgenders who were granted ‘third gender’ status nationwide in early 2014) though it wanted to be used as the foundation for all institutions to develop their own sexual code of conduct based on the Vishakha guidelines for their own places of work and study. Given the nature and mindset of our country, however, meant a large majority of the cases coming forward and being filed were highly skewed towards women being the victims and most institutions’ directives have reflected that statistic. In fact, it wasn’t until the Tarun Tejpal rape case that these guidelines were taken much more seriously, and all institutions were forced to realise the importance of creating their own code of conduct. 
Back to the UGC’s decision, in their report the institution accepted their role of responsibility in acting against gender-based violence perpetrated against employees and students of all sexes. This recognises that some male students and transgenders could be as vulnerable to sexual harassment, humiliation and exploitation as women employees and students. An official from the UGC said that they had been apprised of several instances of male students being sexually harassed. In 2007, two male students filed a sexual harassment complaint against a senior teacher of Ramjas College under Delhi University. Delhi University then amended its sexual harassment rules to include male students.
‘The regulation has also notified a provision for third-party complaints in sexual harassment cases. So relatives, friends, colleagues, or any other person associated with the victim can lodge a complaint on his/her behalf if the person is unable to do so because of “physical or mental incapacity or death,” said an article. In another report, ‘Complaints can be filed in 3 months of the event happening and Universities and colleges that do not follow the regulations can face fund cuts and other actions. All complaint will be reviewed with a probe in 90 days, followed by action within 30 days of receipt of the report. Guilty students can be rusticated, while employees and teacher face action as per service rules’. False complaints will invite penalty.
A website spoke about a report published by University called the SAKSHAM Report (Measures for Ensuring the Safety of Women and Programmes for Gender Sensitization on Campuses) which said “The Sexual Harassment Act only addresses the issue of protection of women employees and is not gender neutral. Male employees, if subjected to sexual harassment, cannot claim protection or relief under the law. However, many guidelines against sexual harassment in universities have taken the next step to becoming gender plural. They recognise that men can be subjected to sexual harassment beyond ragging incidents, especially if they are identified as belonging to a sexual minority. Such cases also require all the efforts of educational, corrective and if necessary punitive responses through proper procedures.”
Had this regulation come a few years before, could late professor S. Ramchandra Siras from Aligarh University take its help to file a complaint against his colleagues for outing his homosexuality to the world? At a surface level, it is certainly commendable for any institution to ensure that all sections of society are included in its purview, and this is the future of what feminist politics should look like in a utopian society. However, it cannot be denied that the current realities suggest that despite how widely reported campus-based sexual assault against women has been, it still remains a problem that doesn’t seem likely to fade away in the face of new legalities--rather, it speaks of a deeply-rooted patriarchal culture, which deems women infinitely more powerless than men across the board.A woman was even beaten up on a college campus for having a differing political view in Kolkata. And when women themselves haven’t been able to acquire justice against wrong-doers, one has to wonder just how much this change in legal rhetoric will actually help?

Feature Image Courtesy: Youth Ki Awaaz

 Words: Preksha Malu