A student at Jadavpur University who last week alleged that a professor had sexually and mentally harassed her during an examination, has accused the secretary of the JU teachers’ association of supporting the accused professor.
The student has made the accusations in a fresh complaint to the university’s internal complaints committee, which is investigating the complaint of harassment.
“I fear that he may influence the entire investigation process and I will not get the necessary justice”, the student has written in her second complaint, referring to Partha Pratim Roy, the secretary of the teachers’ association.
The student alleged in her latest complaint that Roy had issued press statements insinuating that she was “guilty of a crime, even before the commencement of an investigation”.
She alleged that Roy, who is not a teacher in the complainant’s department and was not present when she was allegedly harassed, made statements claiming that she was making false allegations.
She had written in her first complaint that on February 19, Day 1 of the ongoing semester exams, she was asked, following instructions from the professor, to be “uncomfortably frisked” in front of the entire class on suspicion that she was in possession of chits.
She said nothing incriminating was found on her.
When contacted, Roy said: “I don’t want to comment. Let the committee complete its probe”. The chairperson of the complaints committee, too, declined to comment.
The state commission for women has written to the chairperson of the internal complaints committee of JU saying it must send a report after probing the harassment complaint.
