CHENNAI: A six-member fact-finding team constituted to look into the sexual assault controversy surrounding a staff in the University of Madras on Friday stated that the allegations against the Head of the Department (HOD) are baseless and concocted.
In their report released on Friday, they said that the tone and language used against the HOD indicates that the students “targeted him, not only to denigrate him but to fix him in a pre-planned sexual assault case.” The HOD was accused of sexually harassing a woman student in March during an argument. Protests broke out soon over the alleged incident and five students were suspended for violation of rules.
“The question arises – why did these five students not explore formal ways and means to resolve the grievance they had? There are many student organisations that have stood for students’ cause within and outside the university,” the report said. These students could have approached them or even within the department, and sought advice to redress their problem, it said, adding that some of the demands of the students are illogical and irrational.
The members in the factfinding team are: Dalit Intellectual Collective’s Dr C Lakshmanan, PARE Foundation’s Dr K Kathiravan, National Federation of Indian Women G Manjula, S K Siva, a member of Adi Dravidar Welfare’s Vigilance & Monitoring Committee, Anna Study Circle’s Tamil Nazar, and political scientist Gautham Meena. G Manjula, however, states that she doesn’t concur with the rest of the panel in certain points listed in the report and added that she would soon release her dissent note over it.