After allegations that a guest speaker at St Xavier’s College harassed students during the Antas Hindi department fest, the college says it has acted by contacting his university and filing a police complaint. But students say this response falls short. They have launched petitions demanding that the professors involved face consequences, claiming their inaction allowed the incident to unfold and left students unprotected.
On Friday, mid-day reported that a guest speaker at the national seminar of Antas, the Hindi department fest at St Xavier’s College in Mumbai, allegedly harassed students on campus, including taking non-consensual photographs of female students. By noon the same day, sources said a course within the college had started a petition demanding strict action against the guest speaker and alleging he had harassed more than 30 students.
The St Xavier’s College campus in Fort. Pic/mid-day archives
The petition, signed by 107 students, also sought the termination and a formal public apology from the professors who had been informed about the incident on November 24. It stated, “The college has taken action by contacting the guest speaker’s employer and demanding his termination. However, the root cause of this issue lies in the professor’s negligence and ignorance during the entire episode.” A student added, “This is why the principal asked the victims to file a complaint with the Internal Committee for solid proof.”
The petition was later taken down after students from the Antas core committee objected, calling it “misinformation” and “rumour-based,” and warning that it could damage the college’s reputation, a student source said on condition of anonymity.
Petition that got 67 signatures out of 130 students in batch and was submitted to the faculty (right) Petition was taken down after backlash from a few students of the Antas fest core committee
Sources also said several students walked out of the class of the professor named in the petition for allegedly supporting the guest speaker. The same course began a second petition demanding the professor’s removal and declaring they would not attend his classes until action was taken. Within thirty minutes, the physical petition had gathered 67 signatures, nearly half of the 130-member batch.
The petition stated, “On questioning the authorities, including the Hindi Department, they were found defending the guest speaker. The college has made it clear that no FIR will be registered for something directly linked to student safety on campus.” One of the petitioners said, “ The faculty was quite supportive of this and only requested the students not to disturb other batches .”
Screenshot of the apology post on the official Instagram account of Antas. PIC/INSTAGRAM/@antasfest
When the petitions surfaced, mid-day contacted Principal Dr Karuna Gokarn for a response on the action she earlier said would be taken against the guest speaker. She replied, “We have reached out to his university regarding this issue. The college has filed a police complaint with the Azad Maidan police station. An FIR could not be filed without the presence of any of the victims, whom I do not know personally. We have named the person and his university to the police. We are taking the case to the Internal Committee. The investigation is in process, and the CCTV footage from November 24 is being checked.”
No plaint filed, say cops
DCP Pravin Munde of Zone 1 said, “We approached the St Xavier’s College management about the mid-day report. We informed the college that if they have any complaint they can inform the police about it. The college also formed a Vishakha Committee [now referred to as Internal Complaints Committee] which is investigating this matter. Till now no FIR or NC has been registered in the matter. “We also informed all students that if they have any complaint they can approach the police. We will definitely help them and will take action accordingly.”
