PhD student alleges sexual harassment by professor at Visva Bharati

SANTINIKETAN (W BENGAL) Oct 9: A PhD aspirant from Manipur was allegedly sexually harassed by a professor at the Visva Bharati following which the varisty has launched a probe into her complaint.

The student, who completed her post graduation from Sriniketan campus of the central university last year, in her complaint to Vice-Chancellor Sushanta Dutta Gupta said the professor of agriculture department had allegedly outraged her modesty when she went to his chamber on October 4 to submit some research-related papers, university authorities said.

"We (the university) have received the complaint on October 5 and it was forwarded to the committee for protection from sexual harassment," Visva Bharati spokesman Amrit Sen said.

The committee is expected to submit its report on October 13, he said.

The girl, who had applied for doing research, had left Santiniketan immediately after submitting the complaint, the authorities said.

Neither the girl nor the teacher could be contacted.