Calcutta High Court has directed a committee to re-examine the sexual harassment complaint lodged by an associate professor of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS) against the vice-chancellor.

The local committee for North 24-Parganas, constituted under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, in March rejected the complaint on the grounds of limitation.

The assistant professor moved the high court against the committee’s decision.

The order signed by Justice Kaushik Chanda of high court says: “In my view, the order dated March 5, 2024, passed by the local committee is not sustainable and, accordingly, the same is set aside with a direction upon the local committee to conclude the proceedings initiated on the complaint ...on merit in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 2013.”

A students’ wing of the university, the Student Juridical Association, said in a statement: “We strongly condemn the presumption of falseness made regarding associate professor’s complaints and deliberate attempts by the vice-chancellor to circumvent the appropriate legal procedure by abusing his position of power....”

The local committee heard the aggrieved teacher on March 5 and concluded that the last incident of alleged “sexual harassment” happened within April 30, 2023, and the complaint was filed on December 26.

As the complaint was not filed within six months the prayer was rejected on the grounds of limitation.

The committee felt the complaints after April 2023 were not about sexual harassment.

But the high court order said: “In the present case...suggest that the circumstances of victimisation and detrimental treatment allegedly taken place between April 2023 till December 2023 have a nexus with the alleged sexual harassment of the petitioner between September 2019 and April 2023.”

“Therefore, if the complaint is read as a whole, would lead to a conclusion that the same was within the period of limitation in terms of Section 9 (1) of the Act of 2013.”

The vice-chancellor told Metro: “Since the university in December constituted a committee against the teacher for not completing research in the last eight years, she cooked up a story of harassment. Let the local committee re-examine the case. The truth will come out.”

The teacher said: “I hope the committee will take note of the order”.