Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan is once again rocked by incidents of sexual and gender-based harassment.
Within a week of allegations of sexual harassment of a first year student at Kala Bhavan, complaints by two other women have surfaced at the university.
A woman official of the Central University has alleged “gender-related discrimination” against Vice-Chancellor Sushanta Dattagupta citing frequent transfers — two of which were within a span of 24 hours.
The woman official, who is attached to the Kala Bhavan, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chancellor of the University, President Pranab Mukherjee, who is the Visitor of the University, and Minister for Human Resource Development Smriti Irani. “I have been subjected to continuous gender-related discrimination and professional harassment by my employer for the past two years, which has unnecessarily questioned my professional integrity; I have been humiliated and made a soft target for being a woman,” the official said in her letter to the Chancellor.
The official, a graduate of city’s prestigious Presidency College (now Presidency University) was appointed as Museum Guide of Rabindra Bhavan in 2012 but she has alleged that she was asked to work as a telephone-operator/docket-dispatcher and later as a proof reader in the publication section of the university. She has sought an independent inquiry into the matter.
Another student has alleged sexual harassment by a senior at the university.
Expressing serious concerns over these allegations, Sunanda Mukherjee, chairperson of the State Women’s Commission said that complaints of harassment of women have come up at the University on several occasions in the past. She alleged that the recurrence of such complaints pointed that the university was not serious about these allegations.
There were protests in the university on Tuesday by the students who demanded that the authorities ensure that womenwere not subjected to any discrimination and harassment.
Despite several attempts by the correspondent, the Visva-Bharati University authorities could not be contacted.
The allegations have come to fore at a time when a first year student from the Northeast alleged sexual harassment by three seniors and left the campus. The father of the student told journalists that he was asked by officials not to report the matter to the police or speak to the media about the developments.
The university had issued a press statement on August 30 stating that the three accused students were suspended.
