Kolkata: A first-year arts faculty student at Jadavpur University (JU) has alleged that a university staffer sexually harassed her on the sixth floor of Technology Bhavan at 3.20 pm on Friday. Students have submitted a complaint against the non-teaching staffer of mathematics department to vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee demanding punitive action.Bhattacharjee said, “This is a serious complaint. It will be forwarded to the internal complaints committee (ICC) for necessary action. Based on prima facie evidence, the accused will be barred from entering the campus till the ICC probe is completed.”According to the complaint, three students were sitting on the seventh-floor staircase of Technology Bhavan when the accused told them to leave the spot. Two students immediately rushed down. The accused approached the third and asked for her name, department and phone number. The student found this absurd and gave him a fictitious phone number.The complaint said, “He took her to the 6th floor, where there were no lights, in order to show why students are not allowed there. He showed her locked rooms saying laptops were stolen before, hence students must not come there…. When she turned around to leave, he pulled her by her hand and held her by the waist. In defence, she pushed him back and immediately left.”The letter claimed when the staffer came down, the student confronted him but he denied the allegations and asked the student and her friends to furnish proof. “He kept repeating this was a small issue that was being blown out of proportion by the students,” it said.The accused staffer claimed the allegations were false and he was “being framed”. He said, “Two boys and a girl were there. One of them was smoking and the other two were in a corner. When I asked for their name and address, the two boys fled. The girl was still there. I maintained a distance of six to seven arm’s length while communicating with her…. They are now twisting narratives and exaggerating a minor issue to hide their own faults and cover up their ego. I also informed the security guard there and later the estate section. I also apologised to them if I have hurt them. I am a heart patient and had an open-heart surgery one-and-a-half years ago.”Students pointed out that the sixth and the seventh floors of Technology Bhavan have no CCTV cameras. Their letter mentioned another incident in July when the accused behaved objectionably with female students.“The VC has been notified and we expect him to take strict actions, and we will ensure it,” said Arghyajit Banerjee, a batchmate of the woman student.
