Times of India: Nagpur: Sunday,
August 07, 2016.
Three years
after being indicted by its own panel for alleged sexual harassment of a woman
lecturer, Nagpur University finally took action against Virendra Jumde, the
principal of Saoner-based Dr Haribhau Admane Arts, Commerce and Science
College.
NU's Board of
Examinations (BoE), during its regular meeting, debarred the 'tainted'
principal from all examination work, according to pro-vice chancellor Pramod
Yeole.
NU's women's
cell, led by then chairman Mandakini Patil and member secretary Neelima
Deshmukh, had indicted Jumde in February 2013 and recommendation stringent
action against him, including his suspension.
The report
was submitted to ex-vice chancellor Vilas Sapkal, who forwarded it to the
Management Council. Since then, it was deliberately kept under wraps as the
accused principal had a backing of many council members. Even the VC didn't
raise the issue after being allegedly pressured by NU's political outfits that
were with Jumde, as per NU officials.
TOI, in a
series of reports at the time, had exposed how the NU administration was
sitting on complaints against Jumde even as the entire country was demanding
harsher laws to curb violence against women following the Nirbhaya rape case.
Even former
firebrand Senate member Dhananjay Mandlekar had rushed a letter to National
Commission of Women's (NCW) secretary over inaction of NU administration on
such a serious issue while asking for the stringent punishment for the culprit.
Deshmukh had
also complained that though their panel had done hard work and gave impartial
report, she was being allegedly harassed by Jumde by filing numerous
applications under Right to Information (RTI) Act, seeking her past details.
Interestingly,
Jumde was earlier acquitted by Saoner JMFC court from the charges of outraging
modesty and obscene gestures on the complaint filed by the same victim. The
court observed that the victim failed to prove charges labelled against him.
The 'tainted'
principal was always in the thick of controversy. Last year, the students,
mostly hailing from lower strata of society, blamed him for charging excess
fees and lodged a complaint with VC.
NU refers
Morris College teacher case to DAC
NU Management
Council has decided to refer the case of a teacher from Vasantrao Naik
Government Institute of Arts and Social Sciences, who "deliberately"
failed some girls in internal examinations. After receiving complaints, NU
constituted a fact-finding panel to probe the allegations. "It was found
that though all were meritorious students, the accused lecturer deliberately
failed them only in a particular subject. The council also decided to award
average marks to the victim girls and declare them as pass to save their
academic year," NU officials informed.
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