JNU professor booked for harassing women students
THE TEACHER IS HELD AS “PROADMINISTRATION” BY MANY; HELD MANY ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS AT JNU
NEW DELHI: A professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University has been booked for “assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty” and “word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman,” after female students lodged a complaint against him, police said.
Seven students lodged their complaints after midnight on Thursday, and two more including am ex-student lodged their complaints on Friday.
The professor in question has “tendered his resignation from his administrative positions” according to the university.
Milind Dumbere, the deputy commissioner of police (southwest) said that an FIR was lodged based on the seven complaints received on Thursday, and the two complaints on Friday will be added to the same. “We are inves- tigating the matter, and will be sending notice to the accused soon to join the probe,” he said.
After an email surfaced, sent to the professor allegedly by a student before she went missing accusing him of harassing her, a group of current and ex-students had come forward saying that the teacher in question “makes sexually coloured remarks.” In the joint statement released by the group of students on Thursday, they had said that the professor would hold grudges if the students resisted his advances.
The students who had complained have been reluctant to speak to the media.
“The thing is that this is an open secret in the school, but the hierarchy is such that nobody had spoken about it before. After that one email, more students started coming forward,” said Swati Simha, one of the members of the disbanded Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH).
The JNU students union released a statement alleging that the “JNU V-C rather than taking action is shielding (the teacher).” The teacher is viewed as “pro-administration” by many, and held multiple administrative positions in the university.
Hundreds of students marched to Vasant Kunj police station on Friday night, demanding that the professor be taken into custody.
Members of the administration were unavailable for comment. The registrar issued a statement that “top administration officials” met with students, who “verbally expressed their grievances against a professor.”