Visva-Bharati student alleges sexual harassment

Anguished over the attitude of Visva-Bharati University, established by Rabindranath Tagore in 1939, the father of a first year student of the university, who has alleged sexual harassment by seniors at the university, said on Friday that authorities asked him not to approach the police or talk to the media on the issue.

The father and the student from Sikkim left the university later in the evening without filing an official complaint. This is not the first time that a student of the university hailing from north-eastern part of the country has made such allegation. A PhD student had brought allegations against a faculty member and left her course mid way.

A first year student of Kala Bhavan of the University hailing from Sikkim has alleged that three seniors sexually harassed her and recorded it on a mobile phone and allegedly blackmailed her. On pretext of finding her an accomodation the seniors allegedly took her to a place, molested and captured the act in a mobile phone. They also threatened her to release the video on the net, if she lodges a complaint.

“It is being portrayed as if my daughter is at fault. We are not feeling safe here,” the father of the victim said. The father of the student said that his daughter is "not planning" to return to the campus any time soon.

Though the University authorities had initiated an inquiry into the matter the Vice Chancellor Professor Sushanta Dattagupta told journalists that he "does not have time to comment on the matter."

A faculty member at Kala Bhavan assured journalist that the university is not trying to hush up the matter and said that an inquiry has been initiated and accordingly action will be taken against the accused.

State’s Women Commission

Sunanda Mukherjee, chairperson of West Bengal Commission for Women expressed concerns over the development and said that the image of West Bengal is taking a beating because of such incidents.

“I have taken suo motu cognisance of the matter and will also ask the committee of the university dealing with complaints of sexual harassment at workplace why so many incidents are occurring there,” Ms Mukherjee said.