CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday questioned the Devanga Arts College, Aruppukottai in Virudhnagar, for its failure to forward complaints of sexual harassment raised by girls to the Vishaka Committee of the Madurai Kamaraj University even after six years.
The first bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice J Sathya Narayana Prasad raised the question when a public interest litigation petition filed by Ganesan of Revolutionary Students and Youth Federation came up for hearing.
The bench directed the counsel for the college to file a reply explaining the failure to forward the complaints of the victims to the Vishaka Committee by July 7. The issue came to the fore in 2018 when the affected students accused P Nirmala Devi, an assistant professor, of compelling them into illicit sexual activity. The CB-CID registered a case and arrested her.
Ganesan had filed the petition seeking setting up of a special investigation team headed by a woman DIG to probe the matter.