Kasaragod: Bekal Police charged assistant professor Efthikar Ahamed B of the Central University of Kerala with three counts of sexual harassment after first-semester MA English students accused him of conducting lewd classes and inappropriately touching a student who fainted while writing an examination.
Bekal police registered the first information report (FIR) after the university forwarded the complaint, said an officer. He said police took the statement of the student who had accused Efthikar Ahamed of inappropriately touching her in the class when she fainted while taking her to the university's health centre, and at the health centre.
Police have charged the Assistant Professor of the Department of English and Comparative Literature with Section 354 of IPC, a non-bailable offence with a maximum punishment of five years and a fine, for allegedly using criminal force intending to outrage the student's modesty.
The police have also pressed IPC's Section 354 A (physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures) and Section 509 (using word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) against Efthikar Ahamed. Both sections are bailable offences and attract a maximum punishment of three years.
The alleged incident happened on November 13. The students' complaint was bolstered by the statement of the female medical officer of the university's health centre that she saw Efthikar Ahamed inappropriately touching the student when she walked into the Observation Room. In her statement to the university's Internal Complaints Committee, the doctor said the faculty member reeked of alcohol when he brought the student to the health centre.
Efthikar Ahamed has denied the charges and said he was being targeted because of his politics and the doctor's personal grudge against him.
Meanwhile, 14 days after the students filed the complaint, Vice Chancellor (in charge) Prof Baiju K C suspended Efthikar Ahamed from service based on the interim report of the ICC on November 28.
Two days later, the university served a show-cause notice to the female medical officer for allegedly speaking to the media on the case.
'Second external member of ICC quits'
In a testimony to the pressure on the members of the university's Internal Complaints Committee,
Adv Smitha K, who was appointed to the Internal Complaints Committee on Monday, December 4, resigned after attending just one meeting. Her appointment was necessitated after Adv Vanishri B stepped down on November 27. She said she resigned from ICC after Efthikar Ahamed reportedly attributed to her a statement she did not say.
When Onmanorama contacted Adv Smitha, she said she resigned from ICC because of her "personal inconvenience".
But a lawyer close to her said on condition of anonymity that there might have been pressure on her to agree to something she is uncomfortable with. "I know Adv Smitha as a bold lawyer who won't bend to pressure. The university should explain why ICC's external member is quitting back to back," he said.
In the 10-member ICC constituted by the Vice Chancellor, there is only one external member. Three of them are students, four are faculty members, including the presiding officer Prof Germina K A (a nun), and two officials from the administration. There are two males ( a faculty member and a section officer) on the committee.
The university's newly elected Students' Union president Sreehari A of the SFI said one member of the Students' Union Council has a seat in the ICC. "I have asked the university to include a Students' Council member in the ICC so that the council is also part of the proceedings against Dr Efthikar Ahamed," he said. "I will follow it up today," said Sreehari, a third-semester PG student of International Relations and Politics.
When contacted, Prof Baiju was held up in a meeting. The university's public relations team confirmed the resignation of Adv Smitha but said the development has nothing to do with the ongoing inquiry (against Efthikar Ahamed). "We accept her stated reason which is personal inconvenience," said the official.
