A student, who was pursuing Ph.D. in the Department Zoology, University of Mysore, and was allegedly sexually harassed by her guide, attempted suicide by consuming sleeping pills at her residence here on Saturday night.
She is being treated in the Critical Care Unit (CCU) of a private hospital. Hospital authorities told The Hindu that she was out of danger and was responding to treatment.
The jurisdictional police from Vijayanagar visited the hospital on Sunday and recorded her statement in the presence of her husband. The husband said that he had found a note written by his wife before attempting suicide.
Though the research guide has denied the allegations levelled against him, university Vice-Chancellor V.G. Talawar said that an inquiry had been ordered into the incident and a report was expected on Monday. The case would then be handed over to the special committee constituted to investigate cases related to harassment of women and students, Prof. Talawar said.
Meanwhile, the research scholar's family said she had received a memo from the department barring her from conducting any research. The family has questioned the basis on which the memo was issued. They said the research scholar received the memo on Saturday and that this drove her to attempt suicide. However, Prof. Talawar said he was not aware of any memo issued by the department.
Her husband said that he learnt about his wife's predicament and trauma in the last week of February when she spoke of committing suicide and even tried to hang herself.
Her father said, “My daughter can handle immense pressure and if she has attempted suicide then the trauma must have been intense.”
