Bengaluru police begin probe into CSIR sexual harassment case

Marathahalli police kicked off the probe into alleged sexual harassment at Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

BENGALURU: Marathahalli police kicked off the probe into alleged sexual harassment at Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) by gathering information from the institute's in-charge officer and the internal committee on Saturday.

Four PhD students of the institute had filed a sexual harassment case against a senior faculty member on Friday. They approached V Ugrappa, chairman of Committee on Prevention of Atrocities and Sexual Violence Against Women and Children, after their email to Prime Minister Narendra Modi complaining about the incident did not evoke a response.

A senior police officer said that the case was filed against a senior scientist working for Fourth Paradigm Institute, (4PI) a unit of CSIR. Preliminary investigations revealed that the incident was reported on May 2016. The students had approached the internal committee, who upon investigating the case gave a clean chit to the professor.

The students then mailed a complaint to Prime Minister Modi. When the complaint received no response, they approached V Ugrappa with the help of a retired bureaucrat.

The professor was booked under Section 354a (sexual harassment) of IPC and the name of the accused was not released since the investigation was underway.

A police officer overseeing the case said, "We are gathering evidence into the incident and recording statements. We also spoke to the 4PI in-charge and the faculty is co-operating with the investigation officer." 

Speaking to Express, a 4PI scientist said they shared the details of the incident to the police officials. He said, "When the students complained to the internal committee, we took all necessary actions to look into the matter. However, after investigations, the committee found no fault with the professor. Now the police are probing the case and we will convey further clarification once the investigations are completed." 

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