Delhi University HoD’s sexual harassment case deferred

NEW DELHI: The sexual harassment case against Delhi University’s chemistry HoD, Ramesh Chandra, which came up in the Executive Council for disciplinary hearing, was deferred for legal opinion on Thursday.
Teachers’ groups have alleged that this was a “delaying tactic” by the university administration to deny justice to the victim.
The EC decision came after the sub-committee on sexual harassment claimed that Chandra’s case does not fall under the category.
The complainant in the case accused the university of “defending the guilty.”
In another case, the council has removed the HoD of the African Studies department from his post after he was found guilty of sexual harassment.
In the meeting on Wednesday, which went on for eight hours, questions were raised on the administration’s attempt to table both the ICC and the sub-committee reports. It was argued that the reports may be contradictory and can provide an opportunity for the accused to get away.
EC members also questioned the legality of a sub-committee and its report, claiming it was not ordained by the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace act or by the UGC directives on ICC. “We raised the concern that an insertion of an extra-legal body can be used to weaken the case,” said an EC member. The ICC had held Chandra guilty.
Ashwini Shankar, chairman of Indian National Teachers’ Congress, said, “A legal opinion is neither a judicial pronouncement nor a judgment. HOD found guilty of sexual harassment must be removed without further loss of time as legal opinion was not mandated by the law of the land.”