Jadavpur University orders probe into female student's molestation complaint

KOLKATA: Jadavpur University authorities have started a probe into a female student's allegation that she and another fellow pupil were molested by a Left leader on the campus recently. The woman, in her complaint with the university authorities, alleged that the accused Left student outfit leader had forcibly kissed her and groped another female student, while grabbing them by their arms at gate number 4 of the university on Wednesday evening.

The two women, one a postgraduate Comparative Literature student and another undergraduate Arts student, are on a sit-in in front of the administrative building Aurobindo Bhavan since Thursday. The university authorities have also handed over the CCTV footage of the incident to the internal complaints committee (ICC) of the institute.

JU Officiating Vice-Chancellor Bhaskar Gupta said the university has started a probe into the incident and strict action will be taken upon completion of the probe. "Any such act against a woman, if proven, will invite the harshest punishment. Such things cannot be permitted in the university. I think such acts are borne out of mental perversion and should not be taken lightly," he said.

A leader of the Left students' union claimed that the accused student had already been suspended from the organisation on January 28 for certain inappropriate conduct. Sharing a video of the alleged incident, one of the survivor women, in a post on social media, said, "I am urging every woman on the campus right now, who is reading this post, please join me in this fight. This is a fight for justice, a cry for help, a voice of resistance in the face of whatever has been enabled on the campus by various individuals and organisations."

'Other women survivors of similar acts'

"In this fight for making ICC functional yet again on campus, in this fight to make an organisation accountable for their enabling actions, we have launched the sit-in," she said. Regarding the claim by the students' body that the accused was already suspended, she said that several other women survivors of similar acts by the same person are in touch with her and have narrated their horrifying experiences.

"I have also learnt that the students' body was aware of the activities of the accused even before a general body meeting on the issue of holding ICC elections was held and yet he was allowed to speak about the ICC.

"Throughout January 25 and 26, the accused was tagged in every social media post of the students' union and he was unaware of the fact that he was ousted from the organisation. The accused even shared a status of the ICC elections circular right on the day after the incident with me. They have cleverly manipulated the dates in order to validate his presence in the general body meeting on January 27," she said.

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"This is taking an immense toll on my mental health. I broke down twice witnessing the attitude of the Left body's members while engaging in a dialogue with me. I am amazed at their sheer audacity to still assume a higher ground while interacting with survivors. I wonder what kind of sensitisation programmes are being undertaken within their organisation," she said.

Jadavpur University Teachers' Association secretary Partha Pratim Roy demanded that security and surveillance be stepped up on the campus after dusk to prevent any untoward incident. "Safety and security of students, particularly women, should not be compromised on the university campus. We had been demanding strict surveillance on the campus after dusk for a long time to avoid any untoward incident," Roy, a senior faculty member, said.