The St. Stephen’s Ph.D scholar, who accused her mentor, the former college bursar, Satish Kumar, of sexually molesting her, says her biggest worry now is to complete her Ph.D.
She says that the trauma she endured trying to get the authorities take her complaint seriously was equal to that of being a victim of harassment.
“The college has not assured me that it will assign a new mentor. It also has not told me that I can begin where I left. I will have to start from the beginning, and the last few years of research will be wasted,” the victim told The Hindu , in the presence of her lawyers.
The lawyers said that she had no choice but to take legal recourse in the absence of any guidelines to approach the university after all attempts at trying to solve the problem in the college had failed.
The victim and her parents said that the reaction of the authorities stating that she was not even a student of the college, but was simply registered with it, was more worrisome. “I am a project fellow in the college. I have the admission document which has the signature of the principal,” she said.
She also said that although there had been inappropriate, “touching” and sexually-charged, “banter,” for a long time, it was in the laboratory when her mentor made physical advances. “When I first approached the authorities, I was just scared. I was not trying to even take any action against this professor. I only wanted to be protected. My father approached the principal and sought his assurance that I would be protected from him. But, I was forced to take legal recourse after I was told to sign documents saying that my trouble with Mr. Kumar was purely academic.”
Through the entire legal proceedings, Mr. Kumar has maintained that the allegations were made up, since he suffered from disability.
Principal Valson Thampu said that he could no longer talk about the matter.
According to his previous communication with a private news channel, the victim was not a registered student of the college and had not listened to his advice to file a complaint with the Internal Complaints Committee. She had said that all she wanted was to complete her Ph.D and sought his help to do so.
The trauma I endured trying to get the authorities take my complaint seriously was equal to that of being a victim of harassment, says
St. Stephen’s Ph.D scholar
