'Prof accused of sexual harassment shouldn't be made HoD for at least 5 yrs'

KOLKATA: The Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of Presidency University upheld the complaint of an undergraduate student against professor accused of sexual harassment. They have recommended that the accused professor should not be the head of the department for at least five years from now.

The accused professor was the head of the department in the University. On July 18, he was accused of sexually harassing an undergraduate student. Later, he was temporarily removed from the position on the recommendation of ICC.

He was replaced by the Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences Sumit Chakrabarti while retaining the position of Assistant Professor of the department. The professor was accused of coercing a student and allegedly forcing her to take at least 30 contraceptive pills after unprotected sexual activities. He had allegedly sent her abusive text messages as per the screenshots shared by the survivor anonymously on social media. The accused also made a statement through social media post and denied the allegations against him while accepting that they did indulge in sexual activities.

The ICC had been investigating the case and published a report within a stipulated period of 90 days. The committee also issued a strict warning stating that if any further complaints are filed against him, it will be recorded on his services book.

They also recommended that he be barred from giving any form of academic recommendations to students pursuing higher studies. The committee strictly recommended the university administration to conduct a workshop for all its employees on Gender Sensitisation and Sexual Harassment at Workplace within the next

three months.