New Delhi, April 14: In what emerges to be the third sexual molestation case in the Jawaharlal Nehru University in the past two months, a professor in the Social Sciences department has been accused of sexually harassing, molesting and threatening a PhD student.
The complaint was registered with the Delhi Police late on Friday. Deputy Commissioner of Police Milind Dumbre confirmed that the accused belonged to the School of Social Sciences of the varsity. He has been booked under IPC sections 354, 506, and 509.
The accused was yet to be detained by the time this report was first published. The police, however, has initiated preliminary inquiry into the case.
The JNU Students' Union, along with its gender sensitisation cell, said the complainant did not approach them and directly reached out to the police. "We are still ascertaining more details related to the case," added JNUSU president Geeta Kumari.
Meanwhile, the JNU unit in-charge of the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Vijay Kumar, claims the accused professor is linked to the communist groups operating in the campus.
"Another communist professor and ex-JNUTA (JNU Teachers’ Association) convenor sexually assaulted his student. ABVP demands immediate suspension and arrest of this demon professor," Kumar said on Facebook.
He further contradicts the information released by the police, claiming the professor is association with the Adult Education department, rather than the School of Social Sciences.
"It is a fourth year PhD student who has filed the complaint, as far as we know. The teacher is from the group of adult education at the School of Social Sciences, and had allegedly accessed the complainant’s laptop also at some point to send inappropriate emails. He has also allegedly misbehaved with her. The student has not been able to make submissions either," his post on Facebook further added.
The case comes in the backdrop of sexual harassment charges levelled last month against senior JNU professor Atul Johri, who was associated with the Life Sciences department
Earlier in March, a professor from the School of International Studies in JNU was charges of harassment.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 14, 2018 03:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).