At least 500 female students from Haryana’s Sirsa have accused a professor at the Chaudhary Devi Lal University of sexual harassment. The students wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar demanding the accused professor’s suspension as well as an inquiry into the case led by a retired High Court judge.
According to an NDTV report, copies of the letter were also sent to Vice Chancellor Dr Ajmer Singh Malik, Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, Home Minister Anil Vij, and National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma, as well as senior state government officials and select media organisations.
The university’s Registrar, Dr Rajesh Kumar Bansal, confirmed receiving the anonymous letter.
The letter said that the professor would call girls to his office, take them to the washroom and “touche private parts, and (does) obscene acts”. The girls alleged that when they protested against the act, they were threatened with “very bad” consequences.
The letter further claimed this has been going on “for many months” and the professor in question has never been held accountable.
The girls also claimed the Vice Chancellor of the University, instead of helping them, “threatened to expel us… because this professor is a person of immense political influence…” The Vice-Chancellor is also said to have tried to suppress the allegations by offering the girls better marks in examinations.
“The police are investigating… the university has its own committee which is probing the allegations. This is a serious accusation… there is no name on the letter but we will investigate this. Action will only be taken afterwards. Whoever is guilty will not be spared but if someone is innocent then their character should not be assassinated,” Dr Rajesh Kumar Bansal was quoted by NDTV as saying.
Bansal noted that relevant CCTV footage had been handed over to the police.
The letter, however, claimed that the accused professor had “deleted… his indecent actions from CCTV footage of his office”.
The girls mentioned in the letter that they chose to hide their identities fearing “dishonour” to their families.
Senior Sirsa police official Deepti Garg said an investigation into the case is underway, and that statements of some of the students had been recorded.
The accused professor has also been questioned and a case will be filed if enough evidence against him is found, Garg was quoted by NDTV as saying.
Comments
0 comment