A committee constituted by Jadavpur University to investigate whether two students from the English department were harassed during invigilation has recommended that the department head be relieved of her responsibilities pending the probe.

The three-member committee, formed last week, held its first meeting on Monday.

The recommendation was made after the committee met one of the two students who were allegedly targeted and harassed, as well as the head of the department who led the alleged frisking.

Committee chairperson Syed Tanveer Nasreen said it was recommended that the “vice-chancellor be requested to consider relieving the incumbent of her current responsibility as head of the English department until the report and recommendations are submitted”.

The committee will again meet on January 19 and submit its report and final recommendations on January 30.

Asked why they felt there was a need to release the professor from her responsibility, Nasreen told Metro: “This is the usual practice when the complaint is about someone who holds a position of power. The person is relieved of his or her position pending the probe.”

JU vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee said: “I will go through the recommendations on Tuesday and take a call.”

The head of the department, Saswati Halder, declined to comment.

A section of students in the English department had submitted a written complaint to the VC, alleging that the students were targeted and harassed in the name of strict invigilation during the third-semester exams on December 22.

On December 30, a West Bengal Minority Commission (WBMC) team recommended that the department head be barred from campus pending completion of the probe.

Nasreen was part of the commission team that visited JU last week.

“What we requested of the vice-chancellor has nothing to do with the commission’s recommendation. I went to JU on December 30 in my capacity as a social rights activist,” she told Metro.

A committee member said that during her deposition, the department head stated she did not intend to hurt the religious sentiments of the two students and was willing to apologise.

“One of the students who appeared before the commission on Monday said they found some of the questions posed to them during the frisking offensive. When asked about such questions, the teacher said she did this out of naivete,” Nasreen said.

The board of studies for the English department had on Friday suggested that the departmental head speak to the two students and apologise.