After students of the UC college in Aluva started a ‘Me Too’ campaign on social media, the college management has now removed an accused professor from his post of head of one of the departments. A video posted on the Instagram handle called ‘Papicha’ is what sparked the discussion on sexual harassment by professors in the college.
One of the women in the video raised an allegation against the professor in question, stating that he had touched her inappropriately. She has said the professor has been a faculty member of the college for over 10 years and is in his 40s.
“When I asked him why he did that, he said he had no idea what I was talking about. I explained to him that I felt uncomfortable with the way he touched me, and he said that it was not his intention and that I was misinterpreting or reading too much into the incident,” she says in the video.
She also added that he never apologised or admitted to his mistake. “He said that I was one of the few students in the college that he was fond of and hence he thought could take the ‘liberty’ with me. He also continuously said that I was making this an issue and that I was misinterpreting his actions. As he is still teaching at the college, I feel compelled to share my experiences so that no other student would have such an experience” she added.
According to the handle’s eight founding members, at least five students from the college have now raised allegations of harassment and improper behaviour against the same professor after the video got noticed.
“Some of them are anonymous. Others have narrated similar experiences as our friend in the video. But none of them have filed a complaint against the professor yet,” one of the page’s founders, Asra, told TNM.
The student in the video also filed a formal complaint with the college principal, Professor David Saj Mathew. Following this, an internal inquiry has now been initiated regarding the sexual harassment allegations.
The college has also removed the accused professor from his HOD post, for the time that the internal inquiry is being conducted. This was confirmed in a mail sent by the college to an alumna group who had mailed the management asking for action against the accused.