Panel clears JNU professor in sexual abuse case

NEW DELHI: Months after nine students of JNU levelled sexual harassment charges against a professor, the committee set up to look into the validity of the complaint has found there is no basis for the charge. Instead, it has submitted in its report that the professor was guilty of no more than a "communication gap" and advised gender sensitisation lessons for the erring teacher.
The complaint, lodged in September 2007, had been filed by nine students of the Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies against the then chairperson, C Upendra Rao.The complaint said students of the Centre had been harassed by the teacher in various ways, which included "offering lifts and shaking hands." The complaint screening committee of the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH), however, felt that there was not enough evidence to sustain the charges, especially with the lack of witnesses coming forward.
In the final report submitted in December, the screening committee noted,"There is no evidence to back any of the charges and there are no witnesses in any of the cases. The screening committee feels that there is a lack of sufficient grounds to recommend a full-fledged inquiry." It went on to say that the professor was relatively new to the JNU culture and the complaint seemed to be one of communication gap.
The report recommends gender sensitisation lessons for the teacher so that he can understand the ethos of JNU's culture.
Dr Rao, however, was removed from the post of chairman a few months ago. While university sources claim this has nothing to do with the case and is more of an administrative decision, the fact remains that he has not been reinstated.
Meanwhile, the students are planning to go to the appeals committee. Said a member of the ABVP in JNU, "We are planning to help these students in their fight against the professor. The university cannot ignore the plight of students without adequate investigation."
toireporter@timesgroup.com