The West Bengal Commission for Women Tuesday wrote to the president and the prime minister requesting revocation of the Padma Shri award to Visva Bharati University vice chancellor Sushanta Dattagupta, who was accused of sexual harassment.
"It is highly unfortunate that one of the highest civilian awards has been dishonoured by giving it to a person who has been accused of sexual harassment and was even removed as the director of the institute," said commission chairperson Sunanda Mukherjee.
As the then director of Satyendra Nath Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Dattagupta in 2005 was accused of sexually harassing a female scientist.
"Today (Tuesday), I wrote to the president (Pranab Mukherjee) and the prime minister (Manmohan Singh), urging that the award be revoked," said Mukherjee, adding she will also write to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the National Commission for Women.
Despite repeated attempts, Dattagupta did not reply to SMSes or take phone calls from IANS.
Dattagupta, who was Sunday named for the Padma Shri award in the field of science and engineering, earlier denied all the allegations and contended that he was not removed as the institute's director but his term had come to an end.