New Delhi: On Tuesday, the Delhi high court ordered that Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor Atul Kumar Johri, who has been accused of sexual harassment by students, cannot take charge as warden of any hostel housing women at the university. The court directed the fact-finding committee to decide on Johri’s suspension.
The counsel, representing JNU in the court on May 3, had said that Johri was asked by the university to resign from all his posts.
“He is no longer the mess warden of Chandrabhaga Hostel. The women are not in any manner in touch with the professor,” the JNU counsel told the court.
At an earlier hearing, the high court had asked the JNU vice-chancellor (VC) as to why no action had been taken by the administration against the professor.
“What is the matter? You have not been able to do anything.
“Is it that the VC of the university has no power to take action against the professor?” Justice Rajiv Shakdher asked the counsel for JNU.
The court observed, “I am not asking you to take action without hearing the professor. At least interim measures can be taken. You can advise the professor that till the investigation is completed in the cases against him, he should stay out of the campus.”
Women students of JNU issued a statement accusing the professor of “often making sexually coloured remarks, open demands for sex, and commenting on the figure of almost every girl.”
The first FIR on the matter was filed on March 16 under relevant sections of the IPC. 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).
Johri has been accused of sexually assaulting as many as eight students of the School of Life Sciences. Although initially just one FIR was filed against the professor, other complaints were added to the original FIR after a huge protest was led by the JNU Students Union (JNUSU) body. The next hearing will be on August 17.
