WB varsity dean accused of sexually harassing PhD aspirant

, Oct 10: A PhD aspirant of Visva-Bharati

in Santiniketan has accused a professor of the varsity of sexual harassment, an official said on Tuesday. He said the university had received a complaint from the student on Oct 5 saying that she was harassed by a teacher the previous day. The matter was forwarded to the university's standing committee on sexual harassment, it was learnt. The committee will take up the matter on Oct 13.

The complainant, a native of Manipur, accused Dean of Students' Welfare Siddhartha Deb Mukhopadhyay of sexually harassing her. She submitted a written complaint to the Vice-Chancellor, Sushanta Dutta Gupta, on the issue. She said Mukhopadhyay had called her to his room on some pretext and harassed her.

The woman had applied for a PhD programme in the university's Department of Agricultural extension, Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Statistics. She left for her home state after the incident. The accused dean, however, rubbished the charges.

West Bengal Higher Education Minister Bratya Basu said the higher authorities of the university should take appropriate action in the issue or else, it would leave the entire education sector tainted.

Meanwhile, a Class XI student of a private school in Kolkata has filed a police complaint against a teacher for molesting her. Police said they have received the complaint from the student of the Behala school but no arrest has been made yet.

OneIndia News

(With agency inputs)