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Visva-Bharati researchers move PM, UGC in sexual harassment case
Four female scholars and students from Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal have written to the Indian Prime Minister seeking action on their sexual harassment complaint against an associate professor. The university has faced several allegations of sexual harassment in recent months.
Three female research scholars and a post-graduate student from the anthropology department at Visva-Bharati, West Bengal’s only central university, have written to the prime minister, the institution’s chancellor, seeking action on their complaint of sexual harassment against an associate professor of the department.
“It’s been nearly a year that the four of us have been reaching out constantly to the university administration and the internal complaints committee (ICC) with all the proofs, requesting them to take appropriate action to save us from this daily traumatic ordeal that we are subjected to in our department,” said the August 29 email sent to the Prime Minister’s office.
“As no action has been taken on the complaints, he (the accused) has turned into serial predator,” said the email, a copy of which was seen by HT.
Similar emails were sent on the same day to the office of the President of India, University Grants Commission (UGC), Union education minister, Union minister of women and child development, National Human Rights Commission and the West Bengal Commission for Women.
A mail was also sent to the National Commission for Other Backward Classes since one of the complainants is a member of the OBC community.
Visva-Bharati is in the middle of an ongoing row over the allegations since August 21 when the four women held a hunger strike on campus with their faces covered. They alleged that the authorities took no action despite receiving around 20 complaints from them since March 2021.
“The authorities did nothing even after we held the hunger strike. We had no option but to move the Prime Minister,” one of the complainants told HT on Thursday.
The anthropology professor could not be contacted.
Vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty did not interact with the media.
The university’s spokesperson, Mahua Banerjee, told HT on August 21 that the ICC followed official procedure and recorded the statements of the four complainants. The professor also submitted a written reply which was being studied, she said.
“The inquiry is still on,” Banerjee said on Thursday.
Visva-Bharati was set up by Rabindranath Tagore at Santiniketan in Bengal’s Birbhum district in 1921.
This is the third allegation of sexual harassment that has surfaced on the campus in the last three months.
On June 3, Rajarshi Roy, a professor from the education department was arrested by the local police following charges filed by a woman working on a Ph.D thesis under his guidance. She alleged that she was sexually harassed since 2016 when she was a student.
In this case, spokesperson Banerjee, said the sexual harassment committee conducted a thorough inquiry and submitted its report to the authorities.
On August 11, an anonymous social media post accused several teachers from the music department of sexually harassing a student for at least two years. Denying the allegation, the university said in a statement that it was a malicious campaign against the institution. Also, the vice-chancellor held a hunger strike for nine hours, condemning social media posts on the issue and publication of media reports.
The Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association said in a statement on Thursday that the vice-chancellor “is now a desperate fugitive from law.”
“We shall make Bidyut Chakrabarty and his lackeys pay for his crimes,” the statement said.
On July 26, a post-graduate student was suspended for an entire semester for writing social media posts in support of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen who has been accused of illegally occupying 13 decimals of the 1.38 acres covered by the campus land his father took on a 99-year lease in 1943.
The university passed an eviction order against the 89-year-old economist on April 19. Sen challenged the order. The dispute is being heard by the Birbhum district court following orders the Calcutta high court passed on May 4.
