Accused Ramjas College professor was reported for sexual harassment before, allege students

NEW DELHI : Ramjas College students alleged that several students and teaching staff had complained against Dhani Ram, professor at the college’s commerce department, for sexual harassment, even before the recent complaint to the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC).

The students alleged that the college administration and the ICC either took no action or forced complainants to retract their complaint.

On December 23, 2024, a Ramjas College student filed a complaint with the ICC for sexual harassment. According to multiple students, the complainant alleged that Dhani Ram “tried to kiss her” in an elevator on December 2. Following the complaint, and two rounds of student protests since December 24, the Delhi University suspended the professor for six weeks. Dhani Ram, who was also the joint dean of student welfare resigned from the post.

Dhani Ram, meanwhile, denied the claims and said that all allegations against him are “politically motivated”. He also said that he resigned as joint dean of student welfare at Delhi University because he “did not want to continue” working in “this environment”.

Several students also said that similar allegations were raised against him by two students in separate incidents, in 2021 and 2023. They said that a teaching and a member of non-teaching staff had raised a complaint in 2016 but they were forced to retract the complaint due to coercion by the administration.

Careers360 was not able to independently verify any of these allegations and Dhani Ram denied all.

Ramjas College: Alleged harassment

According to students, on December 2, Dhani Ram tried to kiss a student in the elevator. The students said that he threatened the student saying that he will dock her marks for internal assessment if she complained against him. Due to this, the complaint was filed weeks later.

“The incident happened on December 2 but the complaint was filed on December 23. The student said that Dhani Ram tried to kiss her while they were in the lift. The complaint reached on December 23, the matter became public around December 26. Even after the incident, Dhani Ram called her, asking her to give an internal assessment test again. Dhani Ram even threatened the student saying that he will cut her internal marks if she moves forward with the complaint,” said a postgraduate student of Ramjas College.

Students said that they called two rounds of joint protest – one on December 26 and another on January 8 – due to inaction by the administration.

“The complaint was filed on December 23 and a protest was called on December 26 or 27 because there was no action taken by the administration. Even on the day of protest Dhani Ram was moving around the campus freely. Even till January 8, his entry was not restricted. He was regularly in the campus even with the complaints against him. The protest was called to restrict his entry on campus,” alleged the student.

Dhani Ram was also present at the function on January 3, which was attended by the union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan .“As a professor who has sexual harassment allegations against him, how was he even allowed to be part of that event?” asked another student.

At the time of publication, Ramjas College principal Ajay Kumar Arora had not responded to calls or messages. This copy will be updated to include his views, if and when they come in.

‘Asks vulgar questions’

Dhani Ram’s alleged behaviour in class was a topic of discussion among students.

Several students said that it was widely-known in college that there had been multiple complaints against the professor before. Plus, his alleged habit of making inappropriate comments of a sexual nature in class was known even outside the department, they claimed.

“In 2023, he taught yoga and philosophy to first year students. Then a student had complained against professor Dhani Ram but the ICC members, the same ones, then made the victim retract their complaint. There was a case in 2021 that a student had filed but then nothing happened. In 2016, I heard that one teaching staff and one non-teaching staff from the northeastern states had filed a complaint against him. But nothing happened,” alleged a student who is also an elected representative.

“Even before these allegations came out I had heard from my friends in the commerce department that Dhani Ram is not a good professor and that he objectifies girls and asks vulgar questions in the class,” alleged a student of BA programme.

No ICC member spoke, citing regulations banning them from commenting on open cases .

‘Politically-motivated lies’

Dhani Ram, however, refuted all allegations, calling them “lies”.

“Everything is politically-motivated. Lies are being spread everywhere. There is no truth in anything…The whole issue is about attendance. Students don’t attend classes and want whole marks. This is the root cause of the entire problem. If there are 100 students, then 15 of them will be upset. Then they complain saying the professor is this and that. But they can’t see to their part and complete 66% attendance,” said Dhani Ram.

“I resigned as a joint dean of Delhi University because I didn’t want to continue in this environment. The whole public at large is emotionalised in a way that all are thinking that I’m guilty. All these constitutional remedies are being targeted to tarnish an image,” he said.

When asked about the alleged harassment in an elevator, Dhani Ram said that the incident never took place and that he never uses elevators.

“First of all, I never go on a lift,” he said. “It’s all a lie. What lift? Where is this lift? Tell me the time and place. You can’t just make stuff up and play with someone’s life.”