Faridabad govt college reluctant on sexual harassment case: Haryana Women Commission

A day after a professor and two other employees at a government college in Faridabad were suspended over allegations of sexual harassment, the Haryana Women Commission Friday found its internal complaints committee to deal with such matters is not active. The complainant had alleged that an assistant professor, a peon and a laboratory assistant would befriend girl students at the time of admission and later they would target those who had to reappear for exams, promising to help them.

She had alleged that the accused sought sexual favours from the girls on the pretext of helping them in the exams. "I met the girl at the college today. She gave a detailed account what she had to face... She said that she had secretly recorded a video-audio conversation with one accused," Haryana State Commission for Women Renu Bhatia said.

She said an FIR had also been registered and police would investigate the matter. Bhatia said that during her meeting with the officials of the college, it was found that its Internal Complaints Committee was not active.

"Another thing where we found the college lacking was that the girl had approached them nearly a fortnight ago, but it took a few days to take cognisance of her complaint. The college did form a committee, but it took some days," she said. The matter came to light when the complainant recorded her conversation with the laboratory assistant and narrated the incident to the college principal.

The incident had triggered outrage, with senior Congress leader and Kaithal MLA Randeep Singh Surjewala Thursday demanding strict action against the culprits.

(With inputs from agencies.)