Student suicide highlights ICC failures in HEIs; a case for campus safety in NIRF rankings

The Hindu

25-07-2025

The father of a 20-year-old student of Odisha who recently committed suicide held members of her college's Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) 'solely responsible' for his daughter's death by self-immolation. He alleged that the ICC members prepared a 'biased report' and blamed the student following her complaint of sexual harassment by a professor.
He claimed that based on the ICC report, the principal told his daughter that she was at fault and may be punished for making a false allegation against the teacher who is the head of the Education department. The second-year Integrated B.Ed student of Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College in Balasore immolated herself shortly after coming out of the Principal's chamber. 'I hope the system will improve following the death of my daughter,' he said.
Though the ICC is mandated by the University Grants Commission, in many of the institutions they are barely functional. Many students and activists make a case that social aspects such as student safety should be an important parameter for ranking HEIs so there is some pressure on the governing bodies and managements to act.
The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)'s current methodology makes it mandatory for the Universities to have a functional ICC, but this doesn't influence the rankings. 'The ICC should be an integral part of these ranking systems. It should matter a lot how the oppressed – including women – are treated in our educational institutions. Do they feel safe? Do they have equal opportunities?' questioned Geeta Kumari, former JNU Students Union president and a Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) student representative. GSCASH, a body established to address sexual grievances, was replaced with ICC on the campus in 2017. Ms. Kumari served in GSCASH from 2015 to 2017.
Among the various parameters of the annual ranking system, Teaching, Learning and Resources, Research and Professional Practices, Graduation Outcome, and Peer Perception play a critical role but student safety aspects such as a functional ICC are often not taken into consideration. In a quick and random survey, three highly ranked HEIs had several lacunae in ICC functioning — with many students unaware of the very existence of these committees meant to safeguard their dignity.
A skewed system
The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which ranked second in the University rankings of NIRF, replaced the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) with the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) in 2017, but students attest that the change doesn't make much difference on the ground and the campus remains unsafe for students. 'The university administration disbanded the GSCASH and constituted the ICC, citing the UGC's standardization policy. But the move actually came in the wake of multiple sexual harassment allegations against faculty members that year,' said Parvathy P, a PhD scholar at the Centre for Law and Governance, JNU.
She mentioned that the current structure of the ICC is biased against the students. 'The current ICC has nine members—six nominated by the administration and three student representatives elected through campus polls. Despite this, the structure remains skewed in favour of the university management, which continues to hold significant control over all decision-making,' said Ms. Parvathy.
Recalling a recent case, Ms. Parvathy said, 'A UG student faced sexual harassment in 2024, but the administration failed to follow a transparent process to ensure justice. When she staged a sit-in protest at the university gate, demanding action, the administration imposed a fine on her instead of acting against the perpetrators. She was ultimately forced to pay the fine to continue her studies.'
'ICC is filled with people who do not understand gender and its complexities. The first chairperson of ICC made comments such as 'umar ho gayi shaadi bache karo' to female students when they were protesting,' Ms. Kumari said.
Banaras Hindu University (BHU) at Varanasi that is ranked fifth in the University rankings of NIRF has an ICC. 'We are completely unaware of such a body in the campus. Even the official BHU website does not list ICC members,' said a BHU research scholar on condition of anonymity.
IIT-BHU, which had a noted sexual harassment case in Nov 1, 2023 , has no elected student representative in its ICC. The Uttar Pradesh police arrested the three accused on December 31.
The research scholar said there is no security verification at the gates of BHU, and anyone from the public can enter freely. 'The three accused in the case were reportedly involved in other incidents of molestation on campus. It shows that little has changed on the ground. What has now become routine is that each time a sexual harassment case surfaces, there's an immediate wave of student protests. But within days, the outrage fades, and the administration carries on as if nothing happened,' he said.
'Dissatisfied with functioning'
Mehina Fathima Shihab, student member of the ICC, Delhi University, main campus, which ranked ninth in the NIRF ranking, revealed that she isn't happy with the committee's functioning. 'The constitution of the committee itself is a problem, as ICCs are mostly nominated bodies with little or no autonomy. The committee is not fully elected by the stakeholders of the university, and its nominated members often show a loyalty towards the institution rather than upholding the rights of the student community,' she said, reiterating that the ICCs of all of the DU campuses have room for improvement.
The body often faces internal criticism from the elected student members over decisions taken by the committee. 'There are fundamental conflicts between elected members and nominated members, as elected student representatives want to make sure that the campus is safer for everyone. Since not all the nominated members are democratic, conflicts take place whenever we meet. The demand for GSCASH is still very relevant as it can function much better than the ICC,' said Ms. Shihab. GSCASH was an independent body proctor with no interference from the college administration, whereas ICC has become an administrative tool, where confidentiality is compromised, she says.
Ms. Shihab also disagreed with the NIRF ranking scores as its structure does not fully assess the safety and security of students within the campus premises. 'The NIRF ranking scales are faulty when it comes to assessing the social aspects of an institution. The Delhi University campus is very unsafe for women. Sexual harassment cases are being reported on a monthly basis. The UGC regulation, which constituted ICC, clearly mentions the list of responsibilities of institutions in making their campus safer for women, and most of them are ignored, including basic measures like ensuring campus spaces are well-lit,' she said.
But the University's faculty members say that the DU's Miranda House has an effective ICC. 'I will not claim that all of our students know about the ICC but it has increased awareness,' said Abha Dev Habib, Associate Professor, Miranda House, Delhi University. While the functioning of the ICCs differs from college to college affiliated to the University, Miranda House is on the right track, Abha Dev Habib said. 'Our ICC has three student members. We ask every class of students to give representation and these representatives come together to elect the members. We have been receiving a lot of sexual harassment complaints and a strong ICC is something we do not compromise,' Ms. Habib said.
Better implementation
'Many universities conduct superficial inquiries simply to silence the survivor. Instead of ensuring justice, some ICC members indulge in character assassination, prioritising the university's reputation over the victim's rights. In such cases, the ICC becomes a mere puppet of the administration. Its fundamental duties are often diluted or ignored altogether,' Abdul Wahab, State Secretary of SFI, Uttar Pradesh said.
He also alleged that universities don't care to conduct elections to select student members into the ICC and often function with nominated faculty members. 'According to UGC norms, ICCs must include elected student members, faculty, and external representatives from NGOs or activists working in the field. But in reality, most universities either handpick members or fail to maintain a functional ICC. How can an entirely nominated body function impartially?' he asked.
The ICCs are not supposed to function as a punitive body, but rather as a body that ensures sexual harassment does not happen within campus premises. 'Gender sensitization workshops take place once every two years. There is no consistency, and its reach is quite limited. NIRF rankings often overlook the functionality and a mere presence is enough to secure a good rank,' Ms. Shihab said.
Attempts were made to reach out to the managements of Sharda University, JNU and BHU and IIT-BHU via phone calls and email. There has been no response.
(Those in distress or having suicidal thoughts are encouraged to seek help and counselling by calling the helpline numbers here)