Seventeen students of Delhi University’s Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences (IGIPESS), who have failed in their practical examination, have alleged that they were being victimised at the instance of an Associate Professor because the students had spoken out against his alleged abusive behaviour. “The Associate Professor has intentionally marked zero against me and 16 other students of my class for filing a complaint with the college administration for the same reason,” Komal, a final year student of BSc-PE at IGIPESS told The Sunday Guardian. “When the IGIPESS college administration did not take any action against the professor, one of my classmates, alleging sexual harassment, also lodged an FIR against him,” Komal added. West-Delhi’s Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Vijay Kumar, said, “An FIR for outraging the modesty of a woman under Section 509 of Indian Penal Code was registered in the Vikaspuri police station on 2 August, and a formal investigation was ordered in the case.”
A copy of the FIR is available with The Sunday Guardian. In the FIR, the victim has alleged that the Associate Professor used sexist remarks and asked her to go out with him several times. However, the college administration has not initiated any action against the Associate Professor. Dhananjoy Shaw, officiating principal of IGIPESS college, said: “Many girls have come up with their complaints against the professor, and our staff council has decided to put up the matter to the governing body.” The Associate Professor refused to speak to The Sunday Guardian, saying “he has no time to respond”. The victim girl who had filed the FIR had also staged a hunger strike outside the college. “Despite repeated requests, the Associate Professor has not stopped using abusive language against me. He has mentally tortured me and threatened me with dire consequences,” the victim told The Sunday Guardian.
“Despite receiving repeated request letters from the examination branch (South campus), for correction of the results of all the 17 students, the IGIPESS administration has not bothered to moderate the results or reply to our letters,” a senior official in the examination branch (South-campus) said on the condition of anonymity.