Delhi HC breather for Jawaharlal Nehru University PhD scholar

NEW DELHI: Delhi high court on Thursday directed Jawaharlal Nehru University to release the degree of a PhD candidate who has levelled sexual harassment charges against a professor and was barred by the university.
The court asked the university to immediately release the degree of the student and also place before court the full report of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) that found her charges to be “false and frivolous” and recommended her expulsion from the institution.
The woman had challenged in court the clean chit given by ICC to one of its professors accused of sexually harassing her and urged HC to set aside the series of punitive actions recommended by ICC against the student who had accused a professor of sexual harassment last year.
The ICC in its report had recommended that the student should not be allowed to enter the JNU campus or be employed at the university. The woman had alleged her PhD guide molested and threatened her. She had approached the committee in April last year but the panel said in its report that she filed a “false” complaint.
However, in her plea, the woman assailed the findings and questioned the university’s move to not even hand her a copy of the full report. She had also challenged the withholding of her degree.
Last year, JNUSU body had opposed the committee report.
“ICC has till date not done anything other than sheer intimidation of the complainants, which was blatantly exposed when sexual harassment cases against Atul Johri came into light,” the JNUSU said.