VISAKHAPATNAM: A day after the sexual harassment charges were made against Sanskrit HoD Prof. Yedukondalu at Andhra University, the victims as well as a few other girl students met HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao on Tuesday. The students blocked the vehicle of the Education minister when he reached the AU to take part in the AP Science Congress and demanded immediate dismissal of the professor even before the inquiry begins.
A number of students reported to the HRD minister the sexual harassment the department girls faced and demanded immediate dismissal of the professor.The students said that for the last couple of years, a number of committees had submitted reports on various cases in the varsity, including sexual harassment cases, but none has been taken seriously by the administration.
The protestors pointed out that the professor had faced such charges in 2014, when a five-member committee had probed and stated that he was unfit for teaching, but was given promotion.
The women students claimed that there was no shortage of attendance for them as was stated by Prof Yedukondalu. They told the minister, “If we have skipped from attending so many classes, how can we get our hall-tickets for the examinations signed by the same professor.”
The minister tried to convince the students hat he had directed vice-chancellor G Nageswara Rao to constitute a panel to probe the allegations and strict action would be taken against the professor as soon as the panel submited its report. He also said that he would see that a female judge would be a member of the probe panel as well as discuss the matter with the Principal District and Sessions Judge.