NIT Silchar assistant professor suspended for ‘molesting’ female student in campus

The victim is a second semester student and according to her, the assistant professor Dr D Koteswara Raju molested her in his chamber on Thursday evening.

“At around 4:30 pm, he asked me to go to his chamber to discuss my low marks. He asked me to explain the reason for my scores and suddenly started touching me. He asked me to feel comfortable and said that my marks can be managed if I obey him,” she wrote in a note.

She said that the assistant professor kept touching the other parts of her body including thighs, belly, neck and lips. “He asked me to sit with him, later grabbed me from behind and talked about my body parts. A friend of mine called me that time and I rushed out from that room,” she said.

The students from different semesters staged a protest in the campus after the incident and they demanded removal of the assistant professor from the institute.

The protest continued at the campus till the wee hours of Friday until the authorities assured suspension of D Koteswara Raju. The authorities said that they have suspended Raju temporarily and an internal investigation has started.

The Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) of the Institute, a standing committee which addresses the issues of sexual harassment on the women, has started investigating the matter based on the complaint lodged by the victim.

The director of the institute, professor Dilip Kumar Baidya has also called for a meeting at his office regarding this matter. However, he was not available for a comment. HT reached out to him but he didn’t respond.

The official contact number of the registrar of NIT Silchar, professor Ashim Roy was found switched off.

A handwritten note of the victim was shared on social media by some users and Assam Police responded to one such posts ensuring immediate action. The official X (formerly Twitter) of Assam police tagged the Cachar police on that post and asked them to look into the matter.

The superintendent of police (SP), Cachar district, Numal Mahatta said that they are in discussion with the NIT Silchar authorities but no written complaint has been registered yet.

A team of police has reached NIT Silchar campus but the officials said that they have some limitations while handling incidents happening inside the NIT campus.

Some students said that D Koteswara Raju is a repeat offender and this is the second official complaint against him. “We don’t want such a person to teach us,” some students said while protesting last night.

As per the records, D Koteswara Raju allegedly molested a student in 2021 but he was given clean-chit by the court due to lack of evidence and the absence of the complainant during the proceedings.

“The student who lodged the complaint against him in 2021 later started working in a company in Bengaluru and it was difficult for her to visit Assam often. This helped the professor get the clean-chit but he didn’t change,” a senior student said.