A 22-year-old Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student was allegedly sexually harassed by a professor, forcing her to “leave the campus” for her hometown.
The student lodged a complaint in this regard on April 10, prompting complaints by nine other students supporting her cause and alleging that the professor made them “uncomfortable” too.
Reacting to it, Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit said the matter is sub judice and the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) is handling it independently.
A member of the university panel said they are in the “process of conducting an inquiry in all the cases”.
The accused professor did not respond to The Hindu’s requests for response through an email, text message, and calls.
JNUSU seeks suspension
Meanwhile, the Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityStudents’ Union (JNUSU) demanded the suspension of the teacher and urged the university panel to expedite the inquiry proceedings.
“The professor in question has harassed the survivor through constant messages and calls, including lewd poems, requests for “personal” meetings,” the student body said, adding that the professor “threatened to fail the female student in exams” if she did not appear before him.
“The said professor then went on to harass other female students so as to know about the survivor’s whereabouts,” it said in a statement.
The students’ union alleged that another complaint accusing the same teacher of “sexual and mental harassment” by the victim’s batch mates also did not elicit an action by the university panel.
‘Still taking classes’
The complainants said the professor continues to take classes despite the grave allegations against him.
The JNUSU alleged that ICC did not issue a restraining order against the teacher barring him from taking classes to ensure that the accused does not contact the complainant in any form.
In a statement, a group of students demanded that the professor be immediately restrained from taking classes.
A friend of the primary complainant, a student of the School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, alleged that the professor used to “single out the survivor and ask her to meet him privately”.
“He called her into his cabin and hugged her without consent,” the friend alleged.
“Out of the blue, he would mention movies that revolve around student-teacher relationships. He would keep messaging her. Once, he messaged her a lewd poem in Chinese at 1 a.m. He would also constantly ask her if she was in a relationship,” the friend said.
She said traumatised by it, her friend stopped going to his class.
“Upon seeing her attend other classes, he announced in the classroom that he would fail her if she did not attend his class. After this threat, the survivor decided to lodge a complaint,” she said.
She said the continued harassment and inaction by the university authorities forced the student to leave the campus and return to her hometown.
