AMU clears prof of sexual harassment charge, triggers row

The LLM student, who accused the professor of sexual harassment, has rejected the inquiry report of AMU’s Committee Against Sexual Harassment and For Gender Sensitization (CASHFGS). “I am planning to challenge the report in court,” she said.

Professor Mohammad Shabbir, a member of the law faculty, was accused of sexual harassment by the student on December 3 last year, following which he was suspended. A case was filed at Aligarh’s Civil Lines police station.

While the case is under way in a district court, more than two dozen faculty members have questioned the manner in which the internal inquiry was conducted. In a memorandum to Vice-Chancellor Gen Zameer Uddin Shah, they said, “It is evident that the inquiry committee colluded with the accused or decided under pressure. We fear the way the complaint was handled, justice was clearly denied.” They demanded reopening of the case.

Vice-Chancellor Shah said, “The exoneration is on the basis of an inquiry by a committee that found no substance in the girl’s allegation. The girl, according to the report, gave conflicting statements.”

Shabbir said: “The allegations were baseless. I have been a victim of departmental rivalry and connivance on the part of some faculty, students  and Class IV staff to defame me.”

Shabbir was accused in another sexual harassment case eight years ago in which he was cleared after a probe. A departmental inquiry for embezzlement is also underway.

CASHFGS chairperson Nighat Ahmed said, “The report was sent to the Vice-Chancellor. The report cites lack of evidence in establishing a case of sexual harassment against him.”

Sources told The Indian Express that Shabbir claimed in front of the probe panel he was not present in the department on the day the incident is alleged to have happened. He reportedly submitted affidavits signed by three or four students as evidence. But the Dean office of the law faculty had furnished documentary evidence to show that Shabbir was present in the department on the day the student was assaulted.

“Shabbir was in the department conducting viva-voce exams that day. There is no doubt the girl was harassed,” a senior professor in the faculty said.