CHENNAI: A day after a final-year engineering student of Anna University lodged a sexual harassment complaint against a professor of the institute, the Chennai city police on Friday arrested the man from Tirunelveli. The accused, identified as A Gnanavel Babu, a professor in the industrial engineering department, will be brought to Chennai for inquiry and sent to judicial remand.
Earlier on Friday, after the allegations surfaced, the university management suspended the professor following mounting protests by students over the charges and the administration’s alleged delay in acting on earlier complaints. A group of students also staged a protest on the campus, alleging inaction despite prior complaints against the professor.
Police sources said an FIR was registered by the Kotturpuram All Women Police following the complaint lodged on Thursday. A police team traced the accused to Tirunelveli, and nabbed him on Friday evening. “As of now, we have registered a case on the charges of stalking and women harassment. Only after further inquiry, we can decide whether other sections need to be added,” a senior police officer told TNIE.
Raising slogans, protesters alleged that the university’s Internal Complaints Committee did not conduct an impartial inquiry and instead delayed action citing lack of evidence.
Student groups back protest, slam Anna University for late response
“We have been raising complaints for years, but no meaningful steps were taken. The system has failed us,” a student said.
The protesters also demanded the formation of an independent committee to record statements from all female students in the department. Student groups, including the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), backed the protest and criticised the university for its delayed response.
According to the complainant, the professor had been sexually harassing her for the past three years, and it began during her second year, when he had assisted her with an internship.
In her complaint, she said that he had frequently contacted her late at night and made inappropriate remarks. Even after she blocked his number, the professor allegedly contacted her friends to pressure them into making her respond to his calls. She also claimed that other students too had faced similar harassment. While some approached the university’s POSH committee, many were hesitant to go to the police.
Registrar V Kumaresan confirmed the suspension of the professor, but did not comment on the allegations regarding the ICC’s delay in acting on earlier complaints.
Meanwhile, the AIADMK IT Wing took to ‘X’ to criticise the DMK government over the incident, questioning women’s safety on campus and alleging administrative inaction. Referring to the earlier SIR controversy, it demanded a fair probe into the complaint and urged police to follow due process while protecting the survivor’s identity. The party also accused the government of failing to act decisively after previous incidents and said such cases must be handled with urgency and sensitivity.