CHENNAI: A day after TNIE reported on the year-long delay in inquiring the sexual harassment complaints against the head of the department of oral pathology at the Government Dental College in Chennai, the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DME) has formed a three-member committee to investigate the allegations and submit a detailed report within seven days.
Dr J Sangumani, director of medical education and research, told TNIE, “We have constituted a three-member panel to probe the complaints and submit a report in seven days.” He further said they have represented to the government to transfer the alleged offender, till the inquiry is over, to the Pudukottai Government Dental College.
On Monday, TNIE carried a story titled “Officials drag feet on abuse plaints against govt college HoD” which highlighted the persistent inaction surrounding the complaints of sexual harassment. Staff at the college and former female postgraduate students told sordid tales of the harassment meted out by the HoD, that included verbal abuse, casteist and sexual comments, body shaming and incitement towards self-harm. In one instance, he even allegedly asked a student to spit on him.
A senior assistant professor of the oral pathology department, who raised the first such complaint against the man last year, died by suicide in January for reasons unclear. Although the college has an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), the management did not forward the professor’s complaint to the panel.
College officials said this was at the request of the complainant as she wanted to wait for more complainants to come forward. By then, six months had gone by from the date of the incident, and as the other complainants were former students the issue could not be investigated by the ICC, they said.
S Premkumar, the college principal, told TNIE that he still ordered an inquiry by an ICC member and another faculty. The two-member team’s report was submitted to the DME on July 31, 2024, he said, but the DME sent it back on September 13, 2024 asking for the HoD to be questioned as well. By then, one of the members of the team had gone on leave for medical reasons, the principal said, adding that the final report was submitted to the DME in March 2025.