The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) today, Monday, April 29, alleged that a female student at the university was sexually harassed by a teacher, states PTI. According to the report, the union also claimed that the varsity’s administration did not take any action on the survivor’s complaint, which eventually led her to leave the campus.
According to the students' union, a complaint made by a survivor alleging "sexual and mental harassment" by a teacher was not acted upon by the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the JNU. The same teacher was accused of exhibiting similar behaviour by female batch mates of the survivor, but again, no action was taken by the ICC. As a result, the students are demanding that the proceedings of the complaints be expedited and that the accused teacher be suspended.
"The JNUSU has come to know of a case of sexual and mental harassment by a senior professor of the Centre of Chinese and South East Asian Studies, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, against a woman student of the same centre," the students' union said in a statement expressing solidarity with the survivor, states PTI.
"The professor in question has harassed the survivor through constant messages and calls, including lewd poems, requests for personal meetings, etc. Upon her refusal to submit in front of the professor, she was threatened with failing his paper. The said professor then went on to harass other female students so as to know about the survivor's whereabouts. The survivor was forced to leave campus," the students' union added.
The official word
As per Vandana Mishra, the presiding officer of ICC, an ongoing investigation is being conducted into the matter and appropriate actions are being taken, reports PTI.
"The due process of enquiry is undergoing. The required action/steps have been taken from the side of ICC," she said.
The students’ union, in their statement, claimed that a sexual harassment complaint was filed by the victim with the ICC on April 10 against the accused teacher.
On April 15, a few batch mates of the victim filed a complaint with the ICC, accusing the teacher of sexually and mentally harassing them in an attempt to find out the whereabouts of the survivor.
The JNUSU alleged that the ICC failed to issue a restraining order against the teacher, which would have prevented him from teaching and potentially contacting the complainant in any way.
"In complaints of sexual harassment, the ICC is supposed to issue a restraint order which effectively restraints the accused from contacting the complainant in any form. Since the complaint was against a professor by his student, the restraint order should have also effectively debarred him from teaching, pending enquiry. However, no such order was given by the ICC. The professor has taken a class even after the filing of the complaint," the JNUSU claimed, states the PTI report.
The students’ union also alleged that the ICC "did not take any action or provide any relief" in the complaint filed by the survivor’s classmates as well.
"The ICC has been known to shield those in positions of power. Just a couple of weeks back, in the case of sexual harassment against a student of the same centre by the ABVP lumpens, the ICC had shown similar attitude," the students union alleged.
In another instance…
Last month, a female student at the university reported that she had been sexually harassed by four individuals, two of whom were former students.
In response to what she perceived as inaction by the administration, she staged an indefinite strike at the university, blocking the main gate for over 10 days.
The students' union claimed that the accused were members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) unit at JNU, states PTI.
