Vice-Prez office marks scholar’s harassment complaint to PU

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

tribune News Service 

Chandigarh, August 12 

In a fresh turn of events in the case of a PhD student, against whom Panjab University (PU) had approached the UGC for stopping her scholarship, the Vice-President’s office has marked her complaint alleging creating hostile environment against former Vice-Chancellor Prof Arun Kumar Grover to the university, for “attention and appropriate action”. 

The letter from the Vice-President’s office is dated August 2, 2018, but it has not reached the Panjab University Committee Against Sexual Harassment (PUCASH) yet. 

When contacted the current VC Prof Raj Kumar, through Renuka Salwan, Director, Public Relations, informed that: “The letter must be on its way to PUCASH. The exact status will be known on Monday.” 

Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu is the Chancellor of the PU. A woman PhD student had filed a complaint, dated July 20, 2018, under Section 3 (2) of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act-2013. The section deals with interference in a woman’s work or creating an intimidating or offensive hostile work environment. 

She alleged that the former VC, Prof Grover, tried to favour a resident of the PU against whom she had filed a sexual harassment complaint after an accident with his SUV. The complaint was turned false and malicious by PUCASH in 2017. 

Prof Grover had relinquished the VC’s office on July 22.

The student in her complaint said: “My matter (an earlier sexual harassment complaint) was examined by PUCASH. The VC pressured my supervisor, Dr Jagdish Chander Mehta, to disown me as his research student. It is my good luck that he refused to obey his command. During the Senate meeting dated March 26, 2017, in an argument with my supervisor and in the presence 

of all members of the Senate, 

he openly announced, ‘her career is finished’.” 

She said: “When somebody stated that an inquiry report was yet to be submitted, Prof Grover said the report would come soon (video evidence of the same was available in the university). Everyone knows that PUCASH report comes according to the VC.”

“Using his position, the Vice-Chancellor, in unlawful manner had earlier cancelled my PhD registration,” she said. 

But it was the PU’s Syndicate which took a decision of cancelling her PhD registration over false sexual harassment complaint on May 28, 2017. The Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the cancellation by an order dated October 31, 2017. She claimed that even then her case was delayed and allowed to mark attendance only from December 2017.

Recently, the student had filed an RTI to know who was behind the PU’s letter to the UGC, dated March 27, 2018, calling for cancellation of her scholarship. 

Prof Kumool Abbi, Chairperson of the Sociology Department, in her reply dated August 1, 2018, claimed that she had recommended withdrawal of scholarship under pressure from former VC Prof Grover. 

Prof Abbi said: “He (former VC Prof Arun Kumar Grover) expressed annoyance using foul language and threatened the chairperson with dire consequences if things were not done as he wished...From that day (February 16, 2018) onwards, Prof Grover has been consistently harassing the chairperson and trying to influence her for not heeding to his dictatorial designs.” 

She said Prof Grover had asked the chairperson to change the minutes of the faculty meeting and recommended punishment to the PhD student. A woman professor had also filed a sexual harassment complaint against Prof Grover which is pending. Prof Grover did not reply to WhatsApp messages when attempts were made to contact him.