A 40-year-old former lab assistant of BR Ambedkar College — who set herself ablaze at Delhi Secretariat —succumbed to her burn injuries on Monday morning.
Pavitra Bhardwaj, who had levelled charges of sexual harassment and life threat against the principal of the college, took the extreme step of self-immolation on September 30 after she failed to get justice despite repeated complaints against the principal to concerned authorities and Delhi Police. Pavitra, wife of a head constable in Delhi Police, was rushed to the lok Nayak (lN) Hospital where she succumbed to 95 per cent burns.
In her statement to the magistrate, the deceased held responsible the college principal for her extreme step. A resident of North East Delhi’s Maujpur area, Pavitra, was allegedly compelled to quit her job as a lab assistant in the college in 2011 and was repeatedly subjected to sexual harassment by the principal, GK Arora, and another staff member. “She was sexually tortured and was under constant pressure from the principal seeking sexual favours from her. She was threatened by him that if she spoke about it, her spouse would be killed,” said Riyaz Khan, Assistant Professor (Geography) of the college, who was the Head of the Department when Pavitra was facing harassment.
Victim’s family and ex-colleagues called it a clear case of administrative inaction that led her to take the extreme step. Since 2010, she had repeatedly complained of sexual harassment and knocked the doors of all the administrative bodies possible.
She had been harassed for over three years. We were turned down from all administrative bodies, including Delhi Police who did not take our complaint seriously,” said Dharmendra, Pavitra’s husband.
“She had complained to the anti-harassment committee of BR Ambedkar College which was appointed wrongfully by the principal and as expected, didn’t act at all. She also approached the Education Minister, Women cell, Delhi University Vice Chancellor and all other possible agencies but was turned down from everywhere. She has been fighting the battle for nearly two-and-a-half years and lost all hope and ultimately gave up on life,” said RD Sharma, brother-in-law of Pavitra.
The teaching staff of the college said that Pavitra was undergoing the torture for several years and remained quiet for quite a long time.
“She complained to her immediate boss who then sent a written complaint to the apex committee of the university for further action, but the committee ruled in favour of Arora,” informed Khan, while adding that there were other cases of harassment against the principal and the teaching staff was threatened to stay mum on all the incidents. He also said that the seven-member anti-harassment committee was formed by the principal and had “members who were loyal to him.”
Pavitra is survived by her husband and 14-year-old son. She was cremated at the Maujpur cremation ground at around 2.30 pm in the presence of nearly 500 people, including family members, BJP leader Vijender Gupta, local MlA, president and members of the executive council of Delhi University Teachers’ Association, students of DU and the media.