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Students Defy JNU Administration Order, Conduct 'GSCASH' Gender Committee Elections

The students defied a letter issued by the JNU Chief Proctor which said disciplinary action would be taken against Bhagat Singh Saini, chairperson of the disbanded GSCASH Students Election Committee, if he continued to conduct the elections.

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JNU GSCASH UGBM was held on September 25
New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University's decision to disband Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) found no takers from the students as they voted today to elect new student office bearers for the committee. The students defied a letter issued by the JNU Chief Proctor which said disciplinary action would be taken against Bhagat Singh Saini, chairperson of the disbanded GSCASH Students Election Committee, if he continued to conduct the elections.

GSCASH student election committee decided to go ahead with its polls to elect four representatives despite resistance from the varsity, reported PTI yesterday.

JNU chief proctor in a letter said disciplinary action would be taken against Bhagat Singh Saini, chairperson of the disbanded GSCASH Students Election Committee, if he continued to conduct the elections.

In another letter that was issued yesterday, varsity Registrar Pramod Kumar said there were efforts to hold "illegal elections to a non-existing body and ICC was the only body responsible to handle sexual harassment complaints".



"Appropriate action will be taken against all indulging in illegal activities in JNU," he said.

The JNU administration, which replaced GSCASH with Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) on September 18 in its 269th executive council meeting, was extensively criticised by its students and teacher bodies, apart from women's rights organisations.

Reacting to the registrar's letter, JNUTA president Ayesha Kidwai said the former had no business issuing notices about ICC jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, several candidates who took part in the GSCASH UGBM also got letters from chief proctor which warned of disciplinary action.



A JNUSU office bearer told NDTV that the results of GSCASH elections conducted today will be declared tomorrow.

Gender Sensitization Committee against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH)

GSCASH, Gender Sensitization Committee against Sexual Harassment, is the body constituted by JNU in 1999. It was formed on the recommendations of the Working Group on Sexual Harassment in 1997. The Rules and Procedures of the Committee were approved by the JNU Executive Council in 2001.

As per the rules, it implements the Jawaharlal Nehru University Policy Against Sexual Harassment (1999) as also the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court of India, in its ruling on the Writ Petition (Criminal) Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan (1997) on the prevention and deterrence of sexual harassment at the workplace.

(With Input from PTI)

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