A day after the alleged harassment of female students by a professor of the JNTUK, engineering students in large numbers staged a dharna at the university here on Sunday demanding that serious action be taken against the accused.
Over 20 female M.Tech. first year students lodged a written complaint with the Registrar and the engineering college Principal, accusing K. Babulu, Director of the Institute of Science and Technology of the JNTUK, of resorting to physical abuse on them during the semester examination held between January 23 and 25. They said that instead of conducting the viva examination in the laboratory, the professor shifted the venue to his cabin and completed the same for the male students first. They alleged that the professor called the female students into his cabin one by one and abused many of them by touching their private parts and talking filthy language.
Expressing their solidarity to the victims, hundreds of students from different departments gathered on the campus and staged a dharna demanding action against the professor.
Meanwhile, Human Resources Development Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao called Vice-Chancellor V.S.S. Kumar over telephone and inquired about the incident. Subsequently, Prof. Kumar announced that a five-member committee headed by Rector K. Purnanandam was on the job of fact-finding and action would be initiated against the accused based on the committee’s report.
The students, however, pressed for instant justice and raised slogans against the professor. Mr. Purnanandam interacted with the agitating students and pacified them.
