NEW DELHI: Three-time chairman of the Centre for International Politics (CIPOD) and former Vigilance Officer of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been ‘terminated without benefits’ for allegedly molesting a Japanese official.
JNU’s Internal Complaints committee (ICC) before deciding the termination had given the accused 90 days time to present his version in his defence. However, the JNU officials confirmed that this was not an isolated case and several complaints against the professor had been received in the past.
The decision was taken by the university's Executive Council -- its highest statutory body -- after a detailed internal inquiry.
The accused was identified as Professor Swaran Singh, who was the professor for Diplomacy and Disarmament at the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament (CIPOD), school of International Studies, JNU.
Apart from teaching various courses on issues of national security, arms control, disarmament, peace, conflict resolution, war etc, he has supervised 45 PhDs and 54 MPhil degrees. Also, he was JNU’s Chief Vigilance Officer during 2012-2015.
As per the report, he sexually harassed a Japanese official who used to coordinate with professors for academic collaborations. The matter was brought to the attention of the Indian Embassy through diplomatic channels and subsequently referred to the Ministry of External Affairs and the university. The Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) found the charges to be credible.
A long process of investigation had followed and in the EC meeting the, ICC report stated that Professor Swaran Singh was involved in major sexual harassment case.
Commenting on the issue, the JNU’s Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit said, “These decisions reflect the zero tolerance policy of this admin in JNU against cases of corruption and sexual offences. Also for the first time students have been given representation in ICC, a step towards preserving the democratic culture of JNU.”
Besides, three more JNU officials including one professor named Professor Ramanathan and two non-teaching staff members were also terminated for misappropriation of funds and research projects. Meanwhile ICC withheld three increments of another professor named Santosh Kumar Shukla from Sanskrit department for sexual misconduct.