China student sues prof, univ for assault

LAST MONTH, THE SUICIDE OF A SEXUALLY HARASSED TEENAGER WHO JUMPED TO HER DEATH FROM A BUILDING IN GANSU PROVINCE HAD TRIGGERED ONLINE DISCUSSION

BEIJING : A graduate student has become the first person in China to sue her university and a professor after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by the teacher for several months in 2016.

The student sued Nanchang University in eastern Jiangxi province for allegedly failing to protect her from repeated assaults by the professor.

The student, “a graduate of Nanchang University, filed a lawsuit on July 11 against the university and Zhou Bin, a professor who allegedly sexually assaulted her in 2016 for about seven months”, China Women’s News reported.

According to court documents, the victim said the university, as an institution of higher learning, should provide virtuous teachers. The University removed Zhou in 2017 as deputy head of its Academy of Chinese Classics and suspended him, the report said.

The student demanded that the professor should “pay her 140,000 yuan ($20,969) in damages, including 10,000 yuan for psychological consultations, 80,000 yuan for therapy and 50,000 yuan for mental distress”.

“My psychological condition is bad, often immersed in fear and confusion. I often have nightmares. The university can pay my psychological consulting fee first and then seek money from Zhou,” the student wrote on her Sina Weibo (China’s version of Twitter) this week.

The court has to review the lawsuit within a week and decide whether to accept it.