College professor arrested after 12 students complain of adult harassment in Uttarakhand
An associate professor of a degree college in Uttarakhand has been arrested for allegedly sexually harassing multiple undergraduate students during an interview assessment in Haridwar district, police said.
According to officials, the incident came to light on May 15, when a second-year BSc student from the degree college, accompanied by nearly a dozen classmates and several faculty members, approached the police with a formal complaint. Police said they took statements from as many as 12 students.
As per the account of the student, Associate Professor Abdul Aleem Ansari of Chudiyala Degree College allegedly called her and several other students into a closed room under the pretext of conducting the Physics viva voce. There, he allegedly touched them inappropriately, police said.
An FIR has been registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) section 75(2) (adult harassment). The accused was taken into custody following questioning and is being produced before a magistrate. The accused is a resident of Dehradun.
An officer said that the accused had given one of the victims his contact number. “He was an external evaluator and had come to the college for viva voce. As many as 12 students have given their statements that he was touching them inappropriately,” the officer said.
Two practical examinations conducted by Ansari on Wednesday and Thursday have been cancelled, PTI quoted college authorities as saying.
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