An assistant professor at a medical college in the city was apprehended for sexually harassing a 22-year-old student, the police said on Monday. The complainant has accused the academic, who is out on bail, of touching her inappropriately and making sexual remarks while conducting her viva examination.
She also said that no action was taken against the accused despite her bringing the incident to the administration’s notice. Other women who have suffered a similar ordeal were threatened by the accused into silence, the complainant also told the police.
The police have registered an FIR under Section 354A (outraging a woman’s modesty) and 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult a woman) of the IPC.
The victim said that during her exam, on January 31, the accused brought his chair very close to her, breaking the convention of students and teachers sitting on the opposite sides of a table during viva.
“Despite answering all relevant questions, he kept on asking me inappropriate and irrelevant questions, which made me feel uncomfortable,” she stated in the FIR.
“Then he started asking me about injections and inappropriately touched my knee and thigh,” the complainant said.
The accused continued to touch her inappropriately on the pretext of asking questions, she said.
“He started asking me irrelevant questions about breast abscess [a painful collection of pus that forms in the breast],” read the FIR.
She said she was subjected to “constant fear” and threatened with severe consequences if she did not take back her complaint.
