Distraught over the way the Visva Bharati University 'pressurised' him to hush up the sexual harassment of his daughter, the father of the female student from Sikkim Monday filed a police complaint against the vice chancellor.
The first-year fine arts student (of the university's Kala Bhavan) was allegedly sexually assaulted by some students in August. They also allegedly recorded the assault on video and blackmailed her. Three of the accused are now behind bars.
"The girl's father today (Monday) filed a complaint against Vice Chancellor Sushanta Datta Gupta and the head of the Kala Bhavan, saying he was pressurised to negotiate a compromise and not to approach the police. We are looking into it," Superintendent of Police (Birbhum) Alok Rajoria told IANS.
The father, who had earlier too alleged that he was offered money to not file a police complaint, said the University Grants Commission (UGC) team which is investigating the case was a mere "eyewash".
"The university doesn't want the truth to come out. But I don't want that others should suffer the way my daughter is suffering. So I have filed this complaint against the vice chancellor as well as the head of the Kala Bhavan," the father said.
The UGC team comprising joint secretary Ratnabali Banerjee and Tezpur University vice chancellor Mihir Kanti Chaudhuri Sunday met the three accused but did not talk to the girl's father, prompting him to cry foul.
The girl's father has said he was mulling meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and seeking her intervention in the matter.
The state's women rights panel has already taken cognizance of the matter and is in the process of seeking the intervention of the prime minister who is also the chancellor.
Incidentally, Datta Gupta, as the then director of the Satyendra Nath Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, was himself accused in 2005 of sexually harassing a female scientist, though he has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Following the alleged incident, the girl's father has decided not to continue his daughter's education in Visva Bharati.
"They (authorities) tried to minimise it... they tried to point fingers at my daughter, they indirectly tried to prevent me from going to the police and the media by saying that if I approach them, the future of my daughter will be disturbed, she will be maligned.
"I am sad to say, but we will not continue her education here (Viva Bharati), no question about it," he said.
Meanwhile, the internal complaints committee of the university has denied allegations of "offering money and clothes" to the student and her father to hush up the issue.
