A 22-year-old medical student in Delhi accused her assistant professor of sexual harassment. The police arrested the accused and filed an FIR. The incident happened during a viva examination at a government hospital in New Delhi.
As per the complaint, she is an MBBS student of the 2021 batch. The student said that on January 31, their practical exam was going on in a pharmacology department. At around 1:15 pm, she had to appear before an assistant professor of pharmacology for a practical viva. The professor had kept the chair close to himself even though students usually sit across the table from the teachers.
She claimed that the professor gave some documents to her and asked inappropriate questions and made her uncomfortable. She alleged that the professor made inappropriate gestures and comments and he touched her inappropriately.
When she stopped answering the questions the professor sent her out and asked her to come again. Then he started asking her about injections and touched her inappropriately. She said that the professor touched her neck and on the pretext of asking questions he tried to touch her private parts. When she stood up to leave, he asked her about breast abscess and made inappropriate gestures.
The complainant told the police that the assistant professor asked her to meet him in the department alone for academic advice. He also told her that he would take care of her written exam marks if she cooperated. The victim also said that other students had also encountered similar circumstances, but they remained silent due to the fear of failing the examination.
She stated that she also lodged a complaint to the authorities. However, no action was taken against the professor. In the FIR she expressed that their HOD also supported the professor and disgraced her among other teachers by telling them that these girls were making false allegations.
Police have filed an FIR under IPC section 354A (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and section 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult a woman).
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina)