Pental gave gold medal to student who did hatchet job against whistleblower

The result of one of the students, who masterminded the complaint against Professor P Pardha Saradhi, for M Sc (Environmental Sciences) was initially not allowed to sit in the examination. After a time gap, she was allowed to take the examination and declared topper of the class.

It can’t be mere co-incidence that in the intervening time (March 2008) she filed a case against Professor Saradhi, who had by then taken up cudgels against then V-C Pental, of sexual harassment. This indeed was a reward given to the student who masterminded the sexual harassment complaint against the whistleblower in the plagiarism case.

Another interesting facet of the case is that then Dean Faculty of Science and Head of Environmental Professor Rup Lal, who had initially withheld the result and later allowed its release, was rewarded with the lucrative job of Deanship of the examination branch of Delhi University. Under Rup Lal, the examination branch has not exactly covered itself with glory. In the meantime, the Delhi High Court has directed Prof Saradhi, where he went for further relief in the sexual harassment case, to seek documents of inquiry against him through Right to Information Act and come to the court if his grievances are not met.

The manner, in which the female student (name withheld) was permitted to take up the examination as per her conveniences despite the fact that Prof Rup Lal had initially rejected her request, raises several questions. When a student didn’t appear in the examination as per original examination schedule, is that student still eligible for a position in the university? What made university authorities to award gold medal to that student?

While in the case another student, who had lodged false complaint against Prof Paradhi, he was allowed to appear in M.Sc. examinations in spite of severe shortage of attendance. According to the documents available with Millennium Post, the male student has just 60.7 per cent of attendance against the required 75 per cent. In an RTI reply, the DU has said that according to university guidelines (as per the regulations contained in appendix 11 of the University Calendar-Vol. II) every student is required to put in minimum of 75 per cent of total number of practical held for each university examination.