Sexual harassment case against former Panjab University V-C: Complainant does not appear before probe panel again

Woman professor levelled the allegations in 2015, following which a PU committee started probing the matter

The woman professor who had made allegations of sexual harassment against former Panjab University vice- chancellor Arun Kumar Grover failed to appear before the independent internal committee (IIC) constituted to probe the case for the second time on Wednesday, as per sources.

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She had earlier not appeared before the committee on March 3.

This was the third meeting of the panel after Dheera Khandelwal, additional chief secretary, environment department of Haryana government, was appointed as the new chairperson of the IIC by the PU chancellor in January. The appointment came after the Navraj Sandhu retired in November 2019.

The IIC was constituted by the PU senate and approved by the vice-president of India, who is also the chancellor of the university.

Members of the committee held a discussion on when to give the woman professor a third chance to appear before the committee. As per sources, an expert view will be taken on the matter.

This was the first meeting after the woman professor had written a letter to the IIC stating that initiation of proceedings is redundant as Grover is no longer a varsity employee.

Grover was appointed the V-C in July 2012 and retired in July 2018. The woman professor levelled the allegations against him in 2015, following which the PU committee against sexual harassment (PUCASH) started probe on the matter.

In October last year, the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) had upheld PU’s decision to constitute an IIC to look into the allegations, after the woman professor raised objections against some names in the panel that were approved by the chancellor and approached court in September 2018.