College student accuses physics reader of rape and sexual harassment

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government has asked the authorities of the Jayadev College of Education and Technology at Naharkanta, on outskirts of the state capital, to further investigate into the alleged rape and sexual harassment of a Plus-3 girl student of the institute. Though the matter is not reported to the police, a Plus-3 girl student of the college has alleged raped by a teacher of reader rank at the institute.

It is also alleged that she was sexually harassed by the accused lecturer for months. The matter came to the fore after the higher education department directed the college principal to conduct a thorough probe into the incident and submit a report forthwith. The allegation is made against a physics reader who also served as NCC Officer (Naval Wing). The accused reader was accused of torturing the girl both mentally and physically for the last few months. The girl had drawn the attention of the college authority on July 25.

Also read | Uttar Pradesh: Basic technology labs are bringing dropouts, child labourers back to school

Instead of taking the help of the police, the college authorities formed an Internal Complaints Committee for an inquiry and submitted a report to college management council head, who happens to be the Khurda district sub-collector. This allegation needs to be thoroughly enquired into as per the procedure laid down in the Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, the higher education department additional secretary Surendra Kumar Panda wrote to college authorities.

Sources said the Internal Committee of the College did not find any evidence of the allegations made by the girl student. Meanwhile, the higher education department has transferred the reader to Kuchinda college in the Sambalpur district. “Yes, a physics reader has joined our college on August 1 and gone on leave for two days,” said Srikant Patel, the principal of Kuchinda College.