Governor K Sankaranarayanan wants eve-teasing, lewd comments, inappropriate language and gestures to be reported, women to feel confident of redressal.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in
The Governor of Maharashtra K Sankaranarayanan on Saturday asked educational institutions in the State to ensure that a Women’s Grievance Cell is active and functioning in educational institutions. He also asked educational institutions to instill confidence in girl students, so that they would report incidents like eve-teasing, taunting, use of inappropriate language, indecent gestures and inappropriate physical contact to the cell.
The Governor was speaking at a sensitisation workshop on ‘Measures to Tackle the Menace of Sexual Crimes against Women’ at SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai on Saturday, August 31. The workshop was organised by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) at the instance of the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Sankaranarayanan said that on the opening day of the college, all the girl students should be assured of their safety and security and informed of the mechanism to redress their grievances relating to sexual harassment and violence.
The Governor asserted that the girls have the right to an environment of safe learning. “Apart from the Government, parents, society and educational institutions have the responsibility to ensure that girls are safe and supported in their colleges, homes and in society. The attitude of Indian society towards women suffers from deep-rooted prejudices and bias. The first survival test a girl has to face is when she is still in her mother’s womb. The biggest challenge is to change the mindset of society, of parents, of brothers and also of women towards a girl,” he said.
Minister for Women and Child Development Varsha Gaikwad, Minister of State for Higher and Technical Education DP Sawant, Chairman of AICTE SS Mantha, Vice Chancellor of SNDT Women’s University Vasudha Kamat and representatives of technical education institutions in the State were present on the occasion.
(Pictures courtesy dawn.com and Raj Bhavan, Mumbai)