An IIS officer undergoing training at IIMC has made a formal complaint against a foreign mid-career media professional who’s studying Development Journalism.
New Delhi: After rocking media houses and putting many prominent journalists in the dock, India’s #MeToo movement has arrived at the doorstep of the country’s premier journalism school, the Indian Institute of Mass Communication.
A woman officer of the 2017 batch of the Indian Information Service (IIS), who is undergoing nine months of training at IIMC, has complained about “unwelcome advances” and harassment from a foreign journalist studying Development Journalism, sources told ThePrint.
The complaint is being handled by IIMC’s Internal Complaints Committee.
Senior journalist and director-general of IIMC, K.G. Suresh, told ThePrint immediate action was taken against the foreign scholar, a mid-career journalist, by suspending him from the course and ousting him from the hostel.
“The foreign scholar has apologised, but the complaint has been referred to the ICC. We are awaiting its report. Both the ministries of I&B and External Affairs have been informed,” he said.
“IIMC has trained around 1,600 foreign mid-career journalists from 128 countries but this is the first such instance that has been reported.”
MEA in the loop
IIMC is an autonomous institution under the Information & Broadcasting Ministry and is fully funded by the government of India.
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The diploma course in Development Journalism, which the foreigner was pursuing, is for mid-career journalists from non-aligned and developing countries, says the IIMC website.
The four-month long course, held twice a year, is organised under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) and the Special Commonwealth African Assistant Plan (SCAAP) programmes of the MEA. A majority of those studying the Development Journalism course are from African and South Asian countries.
It is learnt that those studying this course are put up in the same hostel as the IIS trainees, and that’s where the incident occurred.
“It was a tricky situation because these are foreign students, and are under the aegis of MEA. We are exploring options,” an IIMC official said, adding that the name of the foreigner’s home country is being kept under wraps so the incident doesn’t affect bilateral relations.
Not the first instance
ThePrint has learnt that in the past too, several female probationers have faced unwelcome advances from Development Journalism professionals at the hostel mess, but no formal complaints were made.
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A senior IIS official said that the hostel in question was especially constructed for the officers undergoing training at the institute a few years ago, yet it continues to accommodate foreign students under the Development Journalism course.
“With cultural differences between the two groups, there have often been instances of routine skirmishes and conflicts between the two groups, even though it had never acquired this proportion. It had also been brought to the notice of the authorities, but no action was taken,” the official said.
“The MEA should effectively put up foreign students undergoing short-term courses in IIMC at hotels or arrange some other accommodation, instead of the officers’ hostel in IIMC. This will also prevent foreign students from having bad experiences.”
ThePrint reached some of the students who had faced alleged harassment, but they declined to comment.