UGC helpline for reporting sexual harassment defunct from the start but listed on Saksham portal

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has no record of complaints on its sexual harassment helpline because the line has never worked, the commission said in a Right to Information (RTI) reply, leaving it dependent on the submissions that universities and colleges choose to file. 

The reply came to an RTI query filed by Careers360 which sought the number of grievances reported on the toll free number 1800-111-656. The UGC had launched the helpline number in 2023 to register complaints related to women and sexual harassment, as part of its guidelines on providing a safe and secure environment for women.

“This number has not been operational so there are no details on the cases reported. UGC just seeks data from educational institutions to submit details of the cases received and resolved,” a UGC official said. 

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The data available till 2022-23 shows that from April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023, there were 378 cases of sexual harassment reported from universities and 47 from colleges. It is an almost 32% increase of reported cases in universities and 74% in colleges since 2015-16 since when the commission started recording details on the Saksham portal.

UGC Helpline: Non Operational toll free number 

Following the notification of the UGC (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women Employees and Students in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2015, universities and colleges were also required to submit the data of annual return on cases of sexual harassment as part of the Gender Audit initiative on Saksham portal.

The Saksham portal still reflects the toll free number as a helpline number. 

In 2023, UGC notified the "Guidelines on basic facilities and amenities for safe, secure environment for Women and Women Cell (for sensitization, policy implementation, monitoring and grievance redressal) in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs)" to provide a safe, secure and violence free environment to all the students, particularly women.

As part of the guidelines the toll free number was started along with instructions to the HEI’s to further conduct seminars and workshops on gender sensitisation. 

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Sexual Harassment: UGC data and reporting

The Saksham portal has data only till 2022-23. The official added the data of the other years is being processed following submission from the universities. 

The most recent data shows 378 cases of sexual harassment and states 377 had been disposed off. There was only one case which had been pending for more than 90 days. 

OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat, reported 47 cases of sexual harassment, followed by Jawaharlal Nehru University at 30. The one case which took more than 90 days to dispose off was from University of Allahabad, out of the four recorded. 

The distribution of cases, however, is more representative of the universities’ reporting practices than of the actual spread of sexual harassment in higher education. The vast majority of institutions are essentially silent. The highest number of universities to file reports with the UGC was in 2022-23 – 238. That’s just about 20% of the 1,154 universities India has. 

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Till 2021-22, UGC was also recording action taken by universities ranging from suspension, penalty, warnings, apology letters and in many cases the accused and complainant asked to seek counselling. Some were also resolved mutually. Only a handful of cases witnessed termination.  

Studying harassment cases across universities, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur’s Giriraj Singh Chauhan and Bhumika Sharma found “underreporting, inconsistent institutional participation, and data gaps”. 

The their study, titled ‘Decadal Analysis of Sexual Harassment Cases in Indian Higher Educational Institutions: Trends and Institutional Responses (2015-2023)’, they recommend “standarising reporting mechanisms”, “mandate functional Internal Complaints Committee (ICC)”, “encourage reporting” among others. 

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UGC Data: Colleges reported 47 cases

Colleges reported far fewer cases than universities, even though more of them submitted data. 

In 2022-23, 372 colleges that submitted details reported 47 cases. At six, Prem Chand Markanda SD College for Women, Jalandhar, affiliated to Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, had the most reported cases. 

The actions taken were in the form of termination of services, penalty, disciplinary action, suspension among others. However, the lack of uniform reporting has been a consistent area of concern. In total there are about 48,246 colleges in India.