An FIR has been filed against JNU professor Atul Johri on charges of sexual harassment. Johri is a professor at the School of Life Sciences. A complaint had been filed by the students on Thursday night.
Earlier this week, a woman student had gone missing from JNU and was eventually traced to the house of her relative. She had sent an email to the professor and said, “I am leaving your so-called prestigious lab, just because you are a characterless person and have no manners when it comes to talking to girls.”
But the professor has denied all such allegations and has instead claimed that the women students are being vindictive against him since he called them out for irregular attendance in lab. He said, “Some girls, who have levelled the allegations against me, had received a mail from me on February 27 regarding their irregular attendance in the lab. So, they are targeting me.”
Milind Dumbre, DCP (South West), told The Hindu, “A FIR under IPC section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) has been filed at Vasant Kunj North police station against Professor Johri. He will be called for questioning.”
The women students of the School of Life Sciences also issued a statement and said, “The professor often makes sexually-coloured remarks, open demands for sex and comments on the figure of almost every girl. If a girl objects, he holds a grudge against her.”
Today, a protest demonstration was organised by School of Life Sciences students. They demanded suspension of Atul Johri for the accusations against him.
The issue of sexual harassment on university campuses came to the spotlight after a list of professors accused of sexual harassment was released by a woman called Raya Sarkar on Facebook in October 2017. Around 70 professors are named in the list currently.
Recently, the conviction of professor Lawrence Liang by the Committee for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Ambedkar University Delhi has again brought the discussion back on the grave issue of sexual harassment in Indian universities. His name had also featured in the list and he is also the first one to have been proven as guilty by any official academic committee.