Reinstatement of professor accused of harassment sparks row at Govt. Arts College in Coimbatore
The Hindu
College teachers protested against the reinstatement of P. Ramesh, who was accused by female staff of harassment, students claim charges to be false
Around 250 members of the Tamil Nadu Government College Teachers' Association (TNGCTA) and Government Arts College teaching staff, staged a protest here over the reinstatement of a professor who was accused of alleged sexual harassment by the women teaching staff of the college on Thursday.
Meanwhile, a PhD research student P. Aruna said the charges levied against Prof. P. Ramesh (50) were false. Ms. Aruna was earlier under the guidance of A. Rajarajeswari (47), an assistant professor in the Tamil Department of the college, and in May, selected Ramesh as her guide.
Claiming Ms. Aruna and Ramesh were related, Ms. Rajarajeswari alleged, "to hide her irregularities, he would threaten the teachers saying he will report us under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. He took photographs of women staff and threatened to post them on social media. When I took up this issue with Principal V. Kalaiselvi, she asked me to adjust to his behaviour."
V.P Sivamaheshwari, another professor, said, "he would verbally abuse the female professors folloowing which Ms. Rajarajeswari wrote to the Regional Joint Directorate of Collegiate Education, Higher Education Ministry, State Commission for Women and the Chief Minister's cell, regarding this."
On the other hand, Ms. Aruna said was not related to Ramesh and that Ms. Rajarajeswari had asked the Principal to cancel her research paper.
President of TNGCTA T. Veeramani said, “after an investigation proved the charges against Ramesh were true, he was transferred to Sivakasi in May. On June 3, he filed a stay order at a court against his transfer and a petition against the college authorities but withdrew it due to unknown reasons. Now, based on the Principal’s recommendation, the Regional Directorate reinstated Ramesh.”
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