The head of a department at a university in north Bengal has been accused of sexually assaulting a girl who is a junior research fellow (JRF).

Sources said the student had submitted a written complaint to the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the varsity on Tuesday.

The ICC works for the prevention of sexual harassment and takes steps if any such incident is reported, said sources.

“The student has been working under the supervision of the professor since March 2022. She alleged that the professor had been sexually harassing her for quite some time. She was also prompted into inappropriate activities. Subsequently, the victim reported the incident to the university authorities and the education minister,” said a faculty member of the varsity.

On Wednesday, students of the department staged a silent demonstration in front of the administrative building and submitted a memorandum to the registrar of the varsity.

“The protesting students demanded the removal and the suspension of the accused professor. They even wanted the termination of the teacher and the cancellation of his doctorate degree,” said a source.

The registrar of the institution said the teacher had been removed from the post of the head of department (HoD).

“He has been sent on leave by the varsity authority until the disposal of the case. The ICC will investigate the incident and submit a report as soon as possible. We have removed him from his post and appointed another professor as the HoD,” the registrar said.

“We will change the supervisor of the victim. After the investigation, we will take action according to the UGC norms. The vice-chancellor has been informed about the incident and we are working according to the VC's suggestion,” the registrar added.

A protesting student said 24 hours had passed after the victim had submitted the complaint to the ICC.

"Students of every department will join us from tomorrow (Thursday) and we will start a mass agitation in the varsity if the authorities do not take effective action. We will continue the agitation till the accused teacher is suspended,” said the student.

The protesters said if the ICC didn't make any further move, they were thinking of filing a police complaint.