IIT Madras has recently been surrounded in an enraged controversy after details of used condoms found inside student’s rooms were published on the notice board by the institute’s hostel staff. The students said that the authorities barged into the men’s hostel and searched or “banned” items from the rooms.
Students publicly shamed for possessing condoms
“The university office often sends vigilance teams to the hostels for surprise searches. Recently, a vigilance team rushed into Brahmaputra hostel and searched several rooms, in some of which they found items which are banned. They insulted the students and clicked pictures. This is no less than violating one’s privacy. Although I have not faced it myself, I am aware of what has happened,” said a girl student of the Humanities and Social Sciences department, in conversation with The Logical Indian.
@iitmadras What do you guys want? India is 2nd most populous country and if a student is using condoms then its worrying you.. the thing that should worry you is those who don’t use it.. don’t you think?? pic.twitter.com/M4Ej5p4R5C
— Aditya VARDHANN (@AVardhann) December 4, 2018
The banned items they found included iron boxes, electric kettle, egg boiler, water cooler, mini fridge, water heater rod, etc.
“However, in one of the rooms, they found some cigarette butts, matchboxes and used condoms in the dustbin. Not only did they impose a fine of Rs 5,000, they put up the details on the hostel notice board to publicly shame the boys for carrying condoms,” she further said. The student did not wish to be named.
This is not the first instance where students have been harassed this way. Moral policing is common in the campus. Earlier in April, IIT Madras students protested against a staff’s action who clicked a picture of a woman hugging a man, platonically. When the staff was confronted, he said he did so to make them understand that what they were doing was “immoral”.
The New Indian Express reported that the college authorities refused to accept that any part of this institute is true. However, The Logical Indian was unable to contact the authorities and verify what they had to say.
The Logical Indian take
The research scholars and students of IIT Madras are well above the age to legally engage in intercourse. They are adults and if they find another consenting adult, they can engage in any kind of sexual indulgence they mutually agree upon. In India, sex has been a taboo for long and is always mentioned in hushed tones so much so that sex education is almost nil in the country. Adolescent teenagers go into adulthood without the slightest knowledge of what is safe sex and what is not. In a scenario like this, when India is already the most populous country in the world, isn’t it better that the boy had safe sex? A premier institution like IIT should not publically shame someone for something personal like sex.
It is time we start a conversation around safe sex. Sex is a basic human need and unsafe sex can lead to unwanted pregnancies and many sexually transmitted diseases. Many people are unaware of this as sex has always been a taboo. We must encourage conversations regarding the usage of condoms and inform more and more people, not publically shame someone.
