HC comes to the rescue of POSH survivor, strike down her transfer orders

The bench found that the transfer orders were triggered by her Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) complaint and struck them down. The judges were displeased at how abruptly her complaint had been closed without a conclusion, and asked the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) to reopen her POSH complaint and follow it through

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on June 25 came to the rescue of an assistant professor at a Sanskrit college who was abruptly transferred from Nashik to Bhilwara in Rajasthan and later to Mathura in Uttar Pradesh after she filed a sexual harassment complaint against another professor at the college. The court cancelled her transfers and allowed her to resume her work in Nashik.

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The division bench of justice Ravindra Ghuge and justice Ashwin Bhobe said, “No teacher can be treated in this manner, and surely not a lady teacher.” The judges added that she had a 3-year-old child who was under medication and needed regular treatment.

The bench found that the transfer orders were triggered by her Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) complaint and struck them down. The judges were displeased at how abruptly her complaint had been closed without a conclusion, and asked the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) to reopen her POSH complaint and follow it through. The court also granted her 50% of her wages from October 2023 to July 31, 2025, when she is expected to report at the Nashik campus of the institute.

Her complaint was referred under the POSH Act to the ICC. Ten days after the committee met, they closed her complaint saying that they could not reach any specific conclusion based on her complaint against Dubey.

A month after the Gamdevi police filed a charge-sheet against the assistant professor, the woman was first transferred to Bhilwara and later to Mathura. She requested the transfers be cancelled but when the institute took no action she turned to the high court.