NEW DELHI:
Delhi Police has registered an FIR against a
Jawaharlal Nehru University professor after a group of students alleged that he had been sexually harassing them.
The women had approached the
Vasant Kunj (north) police station claiming that the professor was in the habit of making explicit remarks on their clothes and touched them inappropriately while delivering lessons.
A case of molestation and outraging the modesty of women has been registered against him. The professor, Atul Johri, resigned from his administrative posts on Friday. This followed a series of protests by students demanding his ouster. The students said the administration should have suspended Johri and that he should have been barred from coming near the academic area to prevent any attempts to intimidate the complainants. They also demanded that the vice-chancellor initiate an inquiry against him. DCP (south-west)
Milind Dumbere said a case under sections related to molestation (354 IPC) and outraging the modesty of a woman (509 IPC) had been lodged against the professor.
He has been asked to join the investigations. Johri was director of JNU's internal quality assurance cell and UGC-Human Resource Development Centre as well as the warden of Chandrabhaga Hostel.
Professor Alleges Being Targeted By Left-Leaning Students
DCP (southwest) Milind Dumbere said a case of molestation (354 IPC) and outraging the modesty of a woman (509 IPC) had been lodged against the professor. He has been asked to join the investigations. Johri was director of JNU’s internal quality assurance cell and UGCHRD Centre as well as the warden of Chandrabhaga Hostel.
“The professor often makes sexually-coloured remarks and comments on our clothes. If we resist, he holds a grudge against us,” the complainants alleged before filing their complaint against Johri at the Vasant Kunj police station. In their complaint, the students of the School of Life Sciences said that the professor would call up some of them at odd hours and ask them to meet him at the laboratory late at night.
“He threatened to fail us if we did not comply. In one instance, he had even forced one of us to give credit for her thesis papers to another girl. If we resisted, he got angry, threatened us and took revenge by refusing to take our viva or by delaying our paper submission,” said one of the students in the complaint. The women decided to register a complaint on Thursday after an email from a girl, who had gone missing from the department, was released to the media in which she alleged that she was being harassed by Johri.
The students said they decided not to complain to the university’s sexual harassment cell — internal complaints committee (ICC) — because it has a provision for a fine in case of a ‘false’ complaint. “We were scared that the professor would use his influence in the committee,” said a student.
Johri did not respond despite repeated attempts by TOI, through phone calls and messages. However, speaking to a news agency on Thursday, he said that he was being targeted by Left-leaning students. “The girls who have levelled the allegations against me had received a mail from me on February 27 regarding their irregular attendance in the lab. So, they are targeting me,” he claimed.
Responding to the charge, one of the complainants told TOI, “None of us is a Left supporter although some of us are cadres of the ABVP. His allegations are baseless.” The JNU administration said in a statement that “students from the School of Life Sciences (SLS) met top administration officials and verbally expressed their grievances. They were assured that the JNU administration will look into their grievances through an appropriate body as per the rules and mechanism of the university”.
The complainants, in a letter to the dean of SLS, said: “An FIR has been filed against the professor, and since he is in several positions of power and holding university posts, we ask you to immediately inform the vice-chancellor and university administration to suspend him from all positions.” One of the complainants said, “The administration met us today and assured us of their support. But they asked us for proof before taking any action against him. We, however, requested that he should be suspended as a professor of SLS and that the students under his supervision should get new guides for their research work.”
The JNU Students Union (JNUSU), representatives of the discarded gender sensitisation committee against sexual harassment (GSCASH) and members of the women’s collective, Pinjra Tod, have backed the complainants.
“The JNU VC, rather than taking action, is shielding Atul Johri. The complainants and all SLS students demand the arrest of Johri for a free and fair probe,” JNUSU said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the busy road in front of Vasant Kunj police station, a part of Nelson Mandela Marg, has been shut by cops owing to the protests.
