Know Your Rights
28th of August 2017
Introduction:
By Shalom Gauri
Last year my college instructed us students to sell one 500 rupee concert ticket each in order to fund campus development. Failure to sell and produce Rs500 at the office would, they said, lead to the withdrawal of our hall tickets. More than half of us quietly paid up, some unsure of whether we had the legal standing to refuse, and some uncaring. It is as foolish to protest against the management for something they have every right to do, as it is to remain silent in the face of something you have every right to oppose. Are Catholic students obliged to attend mass because they have enrolled for admission under the Catholic quota? Does the UGC rule against dress codes apply in private, minority institutions? Is the Internal Grievance Committee meant to have an elected student member on board? These are questions that are relevant to all of us in one way or another and on Monday evening, some of these will be answered.
Speaking of the rights students don’t have
By Akshatha Jane Jesudasan
The Alternative Law Forum (ALS) on Infantry Road took on a younger appearance on the 28th of August 2017, as students from colleges all over Bangalore walked in to attend ‘Know Your Rights’, an event that attempted to discuss the rights that the student and colleges have pertaining to their academics, and rule and regulations within the college campus.
The discussion began with an introduction, where the thirty-odd students gathered there mentioned their names, courses, and colleges. Among the many journalism and law students from colleges like Christ School of Law, Christ University, CMS Jain University, St. Joseph’s College, and interns interning at Alternative Law Forum. The discussion began with talk of the structures in place to address ‘sexual harassment in the workplace’.
Most of the students were unaware of any Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) existing in their colleges, although it is mandatory for the colleges to make its existence, function, and details of its members known and easily available to the students. Students from Jain claimed to have “some vague memory of its existence”, but didn’t know how it worked. The fact that the faculty of St. Joseph’s College nominates its members and not elects them was brought to light, which was a matter of concern, as their not being known to students means that their positions can easily be changed and replaced at the will of the management.
When asked for the need to provide such a platform to the students, Darshana Mitra, a lawyer at ALS stated “It wasn’t my need; it was the student’s need. They asked me to do this and I did.”
Questions of Student Unions arose, with discussions pertaining to the states that allow political affiliation of Student Unions, and the role that the student splay in politics.
It didn’t take long to find out that the students were unaware of the actions a college could take while penalizing the students. A revealing, fascinating conversation about the happenings at Christ University followed, including a discussion of the eight thousand rupee fine levied by the University, on the students who maintain the mandatory attendance of 75%, but not the Christ-required 85%, the hushing down of sexual harassment complaints, and the fear the students feel to fight for the issues they face. It was quite ironic to see, that the students who were most passive to the injustice, were the law students.
The question of penalties and consequences of not adhering to college rules came up it was seen that the fear students had for their future, was all that stopped them from taking the issue up. Furthermore, the lack of support from the alumni in positions to challenge the rules, and the students being unaware of what can and cannot be done are some of the things that allow college students constantly face.
“One of my friends told me about the event. If we were better informed about the ICC, we could have taken the discussion to another level, instead of Darshana informing us about it. We ourselves hadn’t checked to see if our college had an ICC before we came” said Tejaswini U., a student from Christ School of Law.
