A postgraduate student of the internationally acclaimed Nalanda University, headquartered at Rajgir in Nalanda district, has been rusticated on the charge of sexually harassing a girl student there for the past several months.
The alleged tormenter belongs to Buxar district. Disciplinary action was initiated against the student on the recommendation of the university's internal complaint committee. Confirming the punitive action against the erring student, university registrar K. Chandramoorthi said on Wednesday: "The university authority is also going to lodge a police complaint against the student in question."
Nalanda superintendent of police (SP) Kumar Ashish, however, said Rajgir police, under whose jurisdiction the university falls, had not received any formal complaint (till 8.30pm on Wednesday). "We are still waiting for a written complaint from university officials. The moment it is received, the police will initiate action against the accused," the SP told The Telegraph over the phone from Nalanda.
He said he visited the university campus soon after he came to know about a protest by some students over the issue. "When I visited the campus, some students were protesting in front of the vice-chancellor's office, demanding action against the student," Ashish said. He said he somehow persuaded the protesters to call of their protest.
The students were agitated over delay in action against the accused even after a recommendation from the internal complaint committee, which consisted of university officials and Patna High Court advocates. The committee, according to the protesting students, had recommended action against the accused at its meeting on March 20.
"When the university vice-chancellor sat over the internal complaint committee's recommendation, we had no option than to protest," a student said on the condition of anonymity. "We had demanded rustication of the erring student from the institute, lodging of an FIR and removal of the vice chancellor."
Both the accused and the complainant are batchmates and in the second year of the post-graduate course in historical studies. Authoritative sources said the accused allegedly threatened the acting vice-chancellor, Pankaj Mohan, and the registrar for initiating action against him. Some students alleged that they too had been threatened with dire consequences. "The family of the accused is well connected in the corridors of power," alleged another student.
A girl student said: "The boy had been harassing the girl for the past several months. Last month, the girl lodged a complaint with the varsity internal complaints committee against the boy."
The committee submitted its report- recommending strict disciplinary action against the youth - on March 20.
The girl student claimed that after the internal complaints committee submitted its report, the students' fraternity was demanding that the vice-chancellor take action, but the latter sat on the recommendation, saying he has been waiting for approval from the chairman (chancellor Vijay Bhatkar) of the governing board. She furthersaid: "When we approached the VC, seeking action against the youth, he sarcastically said the university is in Bihar and Biharis are like that." The students also alleged that the VC stopped registrar K. Chandramoorthi from taking any action. She also claimed the accused had threatened the registrar and other officials from taking action against him. "The accused claims to enjoy political patronage as he had worked for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and also has close ties with a senior Congress leader from Kerala."
On Tuesday, the authorities shifted the accused from Tathagat hostel to Ajatashatru hostel. "As Nalanda University runs from a rented premises, the administration has taken few hotels in Rajgir on rent to accommodate the students," the student said.
