BENGALURU: Maharani Arts, Commerce and Management College for Women in the city is in the news again for the wrong reason.
Six MBA students of the college have approached Karnataka State Women’s Commission and filed a sexual harassment complaint against the accounts superintendent of the college.
As per the complaint filed by the students, the accounts superintendent harassed them by using foul language and also made obscene comments. The girls have submitted a written complaint to the commission in this regard.
Following the complaint, Nagalakshmi Bai, chairperson of Karnataka State Women’s Commission, visited the college on Tuesday morning. During the visit, Nagalakshmi Bai conducted a preliminary inquiry with the accounts superintendent.
“As the commission has received complaints directly from the students we have considered the issue seriously,” said Nagalakshmi Bai.
During the commission’s visit to the campus, the college principal was not present and so the commission members met the students/complainants directly and sought a report from them. “We approached the commission directly because the principal will not let us inside her chamber. When this is the situation, how can we trust and file complaint?” asked the students.
Meanwhile, the commission has directed the college principal to conduct an internal inquiry and submit a report to the commission. “Once we receive the internal inquiry report, we will initiate further action,” said Nagalakshmi Bai.
College principal Prof Shantakumari was unavailable for a comment.
Sexual harassment complaint against prof
In March, a student filed a sexual harassment complaint against a Kannada professor in the college. Following the complaint, the commissioner of collegiate education department suspended the professor and constituted an inquiry commission. The inquiry commission headed by Bengaluru Urban ZP CEO submitted a report recently and recommended a departmental inquiry.