DU students stage protest against alleged harassment

Students of Delhi University on Wednesday accused the Bharati College administration of coercing a student to withdraw a complaint of sexual harassment she had filed with the varsity Vicechancellor against a professor.

Staging a protest near the college premises, demanding stringent action against the professor, the Congress-backed students’ outfit also accused the administration of sitting on the issue for nearly six months.

“Bharati College had not taken action for almost six months, leaving the student with no other option but file her complaint with the DU vice-chancellor,” Neeraj Mishra, media in-charge of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), told reporters, while also accusing the college authorities of “coercing the student to withdraw the plaint”.

Acting principal Mukti Sanyal, however, denied the allegations.

“We came to know about it only through media reports on February 2 and today, for the first time, the student raised the issue with the college committee that deals with cases related to sexual harassment,” she said.

Asserting that the college administration was not sitting on the issue, Sanyal said the committee was following all the protocols while dealing with the matter. The accused professor has been asked by the administration to go on leave.

In a written complaint to DU’S vice chancellor and proctor yesterday, the third-year BA Hindi student of the college accused a professor of another department of harassing her over text messages.