May 01, 2024 05:50 AM IST
The scandal had rocked Tamil Nadu in 2018, and the then governor Banwarilal Purohit was dragged into the controversy. Purohit denied any connection
A Tamil Nadu court on Tuesday sentenced former assistant professor Nirmala Devi to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment six years after an audio clip revealed that she urged students to engage in sex with male professors of the Madurai Kamaraj University for higher grades.
The scandal had rocked Tamil Nadu in 2018, and the then governor Banwarilal Purohit was dragged into the controversy. Purohit denied any connection.
HT launches Crick-it, a one stop destination to catch Cricket, anytime, anywhere. Explore now!
A woman’s court in Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district on Monday found her guilty of attempting to traffic four college girls. Judge T T Bagavathiammal of the Fast Track Mahila Court in Srivilliputtur convicted Devi, who taught in the mathematics department of Devanga Arts and Science College in Aruppukottai.
The official court order was not available by the time of filing the report
The judge acquitted two other accused, V Murugan, assistant professor at the Madurai Kamaraj University, and S Karuppasamy, former research scholar at the varsity, due to lack of evidence. The students had appeared through in- camera proceedings to submit to the court how Devi had tried to lure them.
An audio clip of her phone conversation with the four students revealed her asking them sexual favours for higher officials of Madurai Kamaraj University in exchange for higher marks and admission to the varsity. Devi also mentioned the office of the governor in the conversation.
After the students filed a complaint with college administration, Devi was suspended in March 2018. After the audio clip went viral on social media, Arupukkotai police arrested her on April 16, 2018. The case was transferred to the criminal investigation department, which also arrested Murugan and Karuppasamy. All three were charged with various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act.
Immediately after the controversy broke out, on April 17, 2018, Purohit in the press conference said he had never seen Devi. He appointed a one-man commission headed by retired IAS officer R Santhanam to probe the issue.
“I have not seen her face till today. Nobody on this earth can level such allegations against me. I am 78-year-old and blessed to have great grandchildren. It is nonsense, baseless and needless,” Purohit had said at that time.
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Divya Chandrababu is an award-winning political and human rights journalist based in Chennai, India. Divya is presently Assistant Editor of the Hindustan Times where she covers Tamil Nadu & Puducherry. She started her career as a broadcast journalist at NDTV-Hindu where she anchored and wrote prime time news bulletins. Later, she covered politics, development, mental health, child and disability rights for The Times of India. Divya has been a journalism fellow for several programs including the Asia Journalism Fellowship at Singapore and the KAS Media Asia- The Caravan for narrative journalism. Divya has a master’s in politics and international studies from the University of Warwick, UK. As an independent journalist Divya has written for Indian and foreign publications on domestic and international affairs.
