The committee constituted by the administration of Uttarakhand Technical University (UTU) to inquire into the sexual harassment charges levelled against a faculty member by three girl students has submitted its report to the vice- chancellor (VC) of the university. When contacted by The Pioneer, the VC UTU US Rawat admitted on Thursday that the committee has submitted its report. He, however, added that he has not studied the report yet as he has been out of station for the past two days. “Appropriate action would be taken on the basis of the report submitted by the committee, ‘’ he said.
The issue had rocked the university last week when parents of one of the three girls came to the university and blamed a teacher for misconduct. The university administration had promptly constituted a three- member committee to investigate the charges, given the seriousness of the allegation. During the investigation, the committee members had recorded statements of the girls, the teacher against whom the complaint has been lodged and some others.
In their complaint to the university administration, three girls had alleged that a faculty member used to talk to them awkwardly and make lewd comments on them. They had further alleged that during interactions, the teacher had sought sexual favour in a roundabout way. The teacher against whom the charges had been levelled had, however, said that infuriated over his refusal to help them, given their low attendance, they had levelled concocted and wild allegation against him.