Male PhD student accuses BBAU professor of sexual exploitation | Lucknow News
Lucknow: A male PhD student at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) has accused a professor of sexual harassment. The scholar submitted a complaint to the vice-chancellor demanding action against the professor.Refuting allegations, the professor also submitted a letter to the vice-chancellor, requesting that a committee should be formed to investigate “false claims”.In his complaint, the scholar alleged that the professor used to show him pornographic material whenever he visited his room for work and asked him to perform inappropriate actions. The scholar claimed that when the professor sexually harassed him, he threatened to complain to the vice-chancellor, at which the professor threatened to terminate his PhD.The scholar threatened to commit suicide if the university failed to act against the professor. He demanded that a complaint should be registered with the university’s internal complaint committee and an FIR be lodged against the professor.Meanwhile, the professor, against whom the allegations were made, wrote to the VC requesting immediate constitution of an independent committee to inquire into what he described as a “false and malicious allegation” against him.“The scholar has circulated a false complaint via email, accusing me of sexual harassment. I strongly deny this baseless allegation. This false complaint, I believe, is a deliberate attempt to coerce and force me to approve academic and procedural violations that contravene the PhD Regulation 2016 (Amended 2019),” said the professor’s letter (TOI has a copy of the letter).He said that since he regularly reported academic irregularities, such as unsigned six-monthly progress reports and incomplete PhD documentation, to the university administration since Oct 15, 2024, false allegation was levelled against him.
