The students of West Bengal’s National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) have written to its Chancellor, the Chief Justice of India Dr DY Chandrachud, seeking the suspension of the varsity's Vice-Chancellor (VC) over allegations of sexual harassment at the workplace levelled against him by a professor.
As per a report by LiveLaw.in, the letter by the students references the incident of alleged harassment faced by the teacher, as well the alleged retaliatory action taken against her by the vice-chancellor by delaying her salary, denial of promotion and so on.
The students have also laid out five demands before the Chief Justice of India.
“We strongly condemn the presumption of falseness made regarding the Associate Professor's complaints and deliberate attempts by the Vice Chancellor to circumvent the appropriate legal procedure by abusing his position of power. These alleged actions constitute blatant patriarchal exploitation and an attempt to undermine the Associate Professor's respect and dignity at her workplace," the letter read.
Earlier this month, the Calcutta High Court had directed the local committee to reconsider the professor's complaint after it had rejected the same on the ground of limitation.
In their letter to the CJI, the students expressed that the vice-chancellor has violated the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences Staff Ethics and Code of Conduct and abused the power vested in him, the LiveLaw.in report added.
These are the five demands made by the students of NUJS Kolkata:
1. Immediate steps be taken to ensure that the complainant/Associate Professor is not further victimised or subjected to any harassment or hostility from faculty/non-faculty staff and a thorough, unbiased investigation against the Vice-Chancellor regarding allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation.
2. Immediate suspension of the vice-chancellor from his office and that he be prevented from undertaking any duties or responsibilities as the university's vice-chancellor until his acquittal.
3. Any alleged attempts by the vice-chancellor to influence EC meetings called to hear the grievances of (the complainant) be deemed an abuse of power and authority vested in him by the university, and his alleged refusal to recuse himself from such meetings violates the basic principles of natural justice. VC be restrained from influencing the course of any proceedings instituted against him and he recuses himself from any subsequent EC meeting called to discuss the same subject matter.
4. The farcical and retaliatory fact-finding committee created by the vice-chancellor against the associate professor be dismissed. The students condemn the alleged actions of the vice-chancellor and his close aides within the faculty for misusing the authority vested in the university's administration to arm-twist and intimidate the victim and cause her aggravated suffering.
5. Owing to a lack of confidence of the NUJS General Body towards the vice-chancellor, coupled with the allegations discussed, the students demand that no extension be granted to him for the position of vice-chancellor.
