According to reports, some 500 students at Sirsa’s Chaudhary Devi Lal University have accused a professor of sexual assault. The students have submitted a letter requesting that Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, the state’s governor Bandaru Dattatreya, and the women’s commission take action against the lecturer.
According to the Times of India, the students have accused the professor of sexually exploiting them for days after calling him to his chamber. The daily mentioned that the professor was given a clean chit by the university’s internal complaint committee twice.
Currently, ASP Deepti Garg said they would register an FIR after the preliminary probe.
The accused professor has denied the sexual assault allegations against him. Calling the accusations “political vendetta”, the professor said, “I am being targeted because I have been active in some work at the university. I am ready to face any probe against me”.
This is the fourth letter the students have written against the lecturer. All four letters were sent from the Khairpur post office on Hisar Road. According to the TOI article, the first letter was issued to the institution in June 2023. Following that, the institution undertook an internal inquiry but discovered no evidence to support the charges against him.
In November and December, two further letters were addressed to the Haryana Governor, who asked the institution to perform the investigation, but the professor was once again cleared.
In their fourth letter, the college girls said, “He calls us individually to his office bathroom and touches us inappropriately…When we protested against this, he threatened us with dire consequences”.
The letter also mentioned that the professor had destroyed all evidence, including the CCTV footage of his room.
“We can’t write out names and contact numbers as it will malign our own image if no action is taken by the professor. The dignity of our family will be at stake. He has political influence and has threatened to get us expelled if we speak against him,” the letter read.
The university officials said they had called colleagues to get their statements recorded but many skipped the session.
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