NCW writes to Hyderabad varsity to probe complaints of sexual harassment on campus

The complainant has also alleged that a fact finding team set up by the UGC that had gathered complaints from students, had earlier given the vice chancellor a clean-chit.

The National Commission for Women has written a letter to the chancellor of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University in Hyderabad to probe a complaint that it has received about illegal activities such as alleged prostitution, running of a sex racket and drugs at the health centre in the campus.

In a letter dated December 17, the NCW has said it received a complaint from a Telangana resident that the administration has not been paying any attention to a complaint about these activities and has not conducted any enquiry in the matter.(HT PHOTO.)

In a letter dated December 17, the NCW has said it received a complaint from a Telangana resident that the administration has not been paying any attention to a complaint about these activities and has not conducted any enquiry in the matter.

NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said, “We received a complaint from a resident and a member has written to university chancellor Feroz Bakht Ahmed to undertake an inquiry.”

The complainant‘s letter which has also been sent to the Prime Minister’s Office claims that girl students who have in the past complained of sexual harassment by a professor are “threatened to take the complaint back or face the music”.

The complainant has also alleged that a fact finding team set up by the UGC that had gathered complaints from students, had earlier given the vice chancellor a clean-chit.

While Bakht could not be reached, MANUU in-charge vice chancellor Prof S M Rahmatullah did not take calls or respond to text messages. However, a senior faculty in the university, who refused to be quoted, said no such case of sexual harassment had come to light in the university in the recent past.

“There was an instance of a girl student making such a complaint against a faculty member at least three years ago, but the issue was closed after a due inquiry. At least in public domain, there are no such complaints after that,” he said.