College correspondent, lecturer, among three, arrested on sexual harassment charge

The victim is working as an assistant professor at an aided college in Bantwal

The police have arrested three men, including a lecturer, from an aided degree college in Bantwal on the charge of sexually harassing an assistant professor.

Police Commissioner N. Shashi Kumar said that the accused are college correspondent Prakash Shenoy, economics lecturer Pradeep Poojary and physical education director Taranath Shetty.

They have been accused of sending letters to officials, lecturers and the victim’s family members portraying her in bad light. They have also been accused of writing her mobile number and email address on the walls of public toilets at KSRTC bus stands at Sullia, Subrahmanya, Sampaje, Madikeri, Mysuru, Chikkamagaluru, Moodigere, N.R. Pura, Shivamogga and a few other places stating that she is offering sex and body massage services.

“We have secured the content of the letters from the mobile phones of the accused persons, collected evidence about their presence at bus stands a couple of days earlier to the dates on which the victim began getting calls inquiring about the massage service,” Mr. Kumar said.

They have been booked under Section 354 and other sections of the Indian Penal Code. The Women Police and the Central Crime Branch Police have launched a search for others involved in the harassment case, he said.

The victim said that she was harassed by her own colleagues. She opted for deputation to a government college in Mangaluru five years ago due to harassment by Shenoy and a few others.

Her professional peers in other colleges told the victim this January that they received letters portraying her in bad light, while her family too received a similar letter a fortnight later. Harassment escalated as she started receiving telephone calls from February 8 onward inquiring about massage services she is supposed to offer. As if that was not enough, the victim got a threat call on February 18 wherein the man threatened to rape her daughter and cause harm to other family members if she resumes work in the Bantwal college, the victim said.

“After two months of sleepless nights, I approached the Police Commissioner,” she added.

She thanked the police for the timely action. The victim, however, said that she did not report the harassment case to the internal committee of the Bantwal college.