MU reinstates 1 of three women

One of the three women, whose services were terminated by the University of Mumbai after they complained of sexual harassment against two professors, has been reinstated. The intervention of the governor ensured the reinstatement and an order to the effect was issued on Tuesday. The woman has been asked resume duty immediately. “It is indeed a huge relief for me to be reinstated to my post. It could not have been possible without the intervention of the governor who we had met a couple of weeks ago, along with Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray,” said the woman. According to sources in the university, the reinstatement was on the cards as the department the women worked in was short-staffed. “The university hires people as and when there is a requirement and the three women were also appointed on those lines. There had been no injustice, as the term of the contract for two of them had ended. However, after the governor met one of the officials and asked him to ensure that the university took the women back, one of them has been recalled,” said a senior university official. The three women had alleged sexual harassment by two male professors of the physical education department from April to July last year. Though the university’s Womens’ Development Cell, in its report, had mentioned that the allegations were true, the services of the women were either terminated or not renewed. The two professors against whom police complaints were lodged had also been absconding, but had turned themselves in, in December.