A non-bailable warrant has been issued by a court here against a law department professor of Aligarh Muslim University accused of sexually assaulting a post-graduate girl student.
Chief Judicial Magistrate BD Bharti, before whom the lawyer of Professor Muhammad Shabbir, chairman of the law department of the university, had applied for a surrender application, issued a non-bailable warrant on Wednesday.
The court will hear the case further tomorrow. Professor Shabbir was suspended from service on December 5 after charges by the girl were found "prima facie correct" by the Women Complaint Cell of the university. He is currently absconding.
Several raids were conducted during the past three days to trace the whereabouts of the professor and a police party will leave for Allahabad on Thursday to look for him, they said.
All necessary steps are being taken by the university to ensure safety and security of women on AMU campus, AMU Vice Chancellor (Retired) Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah said in a statement.
"There is no question whatsoever of trying to shield Prof Shabbir. He will be fully answerable for his deeds under the due process of law," he said, adding that all necessary steps are being taken by the university so as to ensure that the victim does not get embarrass by questions on details of the incident.
The VC said that the victim and her father had met him on December 9 and he had "fully assured" them of taking all necessary stringent steps on this matter. The alleged incident occurred on December 3 when the girl, studying LLM, filed a complaint alleging that the professor sexually harassed her when she met him for discussing a project report, AMU spokesman Rahat Abrar said.
The university authorities referred the matter to the Women Complaint Cell and after preliminary inquiry, the cell submitted its report. Acting on the report, which found charges of the girl "prima facie correct", the authorities suspended the teacher.
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