St Stephen's molestation row: Accused calls complaint against him fallout of victim's poor results

New Delhi: The St Stephen’s professor, accused of molesting a research scholar pursuing PhD under him, on Wednesday told the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) that the complaint against him was a fallout of his objection to the girl’s poor performance during the research. [caption id=“attachment_2399450” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Agencies[/caption] Professor Satish Kumar, college principal Valson Thampu and the victim appeared before DCW chief Swati Maliwal. In the three-hour long hearing, the accused professor alleged that the girl was trying to tarnish his image. “Satish Kumar told the commission today that the girl was not doing her research work properly and she did not work on any segment after March, 2014. He also said that she did not submit reports of any work done by her and is now making attempts to tarnish his image,” sources at DCW said. Kumar was asked by the DCW chief whether he had reported the girl’s “dissatisfactory” performance to the university, research council or the UGC and also directed him to produce evidences regarding the same and his version in an affidavit on 26 August. “The commission will question the university about its role in the issue and efforts made to resolve the complaint. The university will be asked to constitute a separate committee to probe this case and initiate proceedings for change of her supervisor,” they added. Taking cognisance of the complaint submitted by the victim to DCW, the commission had last week issued summons to Thampu and the accused professor. The girl had approached police last month alleging that she was molested by Kumar, an assistant professor in the college’s Chemistry department, under whom she was pursuing research. She had also accused Thampu of “shielding” the teacher when the matter was reported to him. While Thampu did not comment about what was communicated to him in the meeting, he reiterated that his heart goes out to the girl as she has been “taken hostage by unscrupulous documents.” “I submitted a set of documents to help serve the commission with all information and the DCW chief understood that it is not my domain to change her supervisor or facilitate her compounds, it is within the university’s domain,” he told reporters after the meeting. “I feel sorry for the victim as she has been taken hostage by certain unscrupulous elements. As far as allegations against me are concerned I am open for a thorough probe… a CBI inquiry… and I told the commission the same,” he added. The victim had sent a complaint to the DCW, demanding release of her stipend, appointment of a new supervisor and return of her research compounds. She had also raised similar demands with Union HRD minister Smriti Irani last month, who had then directed the Delhi University to ensure that her stipend was released on time and she was granted unrestricted access to the laboratory besides being assigned a new supervisor. However, notwithstanding the instructions, the accused professor last week refused to give back the victim’s compounds and computational data, saying they are UGC’s property and advised her not to “jump into any misadventure” and misuse the process of law. PTI