Bhubaneswar: A guest lecturer of the Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya in Bhubaneswar was dismissed from his services on charges of harassing a female student of the institution.
The Odia Language Literature & Culture Department of the Odisha government dismissed the guest lecturer, Shatrughan Samal, of Department of Drama after finding him guilty of harassing the concerned student.
A three-member team of the Culture Department rushed to the Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya and conducted a probe into the matter soon after tension gripped the institution as the students staged a protest and demanded action against Samal.
In order to press their demands, the students also had blocked the AG Square-Acharya Vihar road disrupting the movement of vehicles on the route for some time.
On being informed a team of cops from the Kharavela Nagar Police Station also reached the Mahavidyalaya.
As alleged by a senior student, Samal was allegedly harassing the girl student and forcing her to indulge in lewd talks with him despite her repeated denial. The lecturer was also giving her some lucrative offers which include increasing her marks during exams and provide her roles during stage programmes.
However, after learning about it and getting all the audio proofs from the girl, the senior students of the institutions staged a protest and demanded action against the accused lecturer.
Meanwhile, informing about the development, principal of Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya Bijay Kumar Jena said that the guest lecturer has been dismissed based on the complaint of 10-12 female students. However, police will take action against him as per the law.
“The institution has an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) and Sexual Harassment Committee but no action was taken against the lecturer as none of the students had complaint against him earlier. We received a written complaint in this regard only at 10 AM this morning where in the students alleged him of obscene gestures and bad touches. We had decided to have a meeting in this regard tomorrow. However, due to the protest by the students immediate action was taken against him,” Jena informed.
“Police have already taken the guest lecturer into their custody and we have given all the evidences of the allegations against him. They will take action as per the law. We are with the student and continue to be with the students. We will take decision to prevent re-occurrence of such incident in the institution,” he added.
