Sirsa: Police officer Ghanshyam Devi urges the female students assembled at a brightly lit hall in Sirsa’s Chaudhary Devi Lal University to step up and speak out. “Write whatever you feel about these teachers and there is no need to get scared; nothing will happen to anyone,” she says. But a little over a week after CDLU was thrown into chaos by an anonymous letter alleging molestation of young women by a senior professor and dean, the police have made no headway. There are no victims, no FIR.
Now, an entire police team is investigating the allegations. Professors are being questioned, female students are attending counselling sessions, parents are demanding answers, and Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s political opponents are taking potshots at him and the BJP.
The two–page letter printed in Hindi was sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Droupadi Murmu, CM Khattar, Haryana governor Bandaru Dattatreya, the state commission for women, and a local journalist.
“Our dean Sushil Kumar has been sexually harassing us for months, He tries to lure us by giving us good marks in practical exams,” read the letter. “He touched our private parts and threatened us that if we complained about him, it wouldn’t come out well for us.”
But in Haryana, where the rules of patriarchy run deep, where the sex ratio at birth is heavily skewed in favour of boys (while being significantly lower at 906 than the national average of 933), and women’s freedoms are at odds with a society that values “honour” above all else, anonymous letters still remain the weapon of choice for women and girls facing abuse.
Two months ago in November, an anonymous letter threw the lid open on a similar scandal where a public school principal in Jind was accused of molesting at least 150 students. Only five girls came forward to the police in the early days of the investigation.
At CDLU, SHO Devi’s efforts to get to the truth are met with denials, allegations of campus politics at play, and reports of the professor’s stellar record. She faces the uphill task of winning the trust of graduate students in a university where most of the faculty are convinced that it is the dean who is the victim. He has not been suspended or asked to take administrative leave, and over 200 teachers turned signatories of a letter to Khattar extolling his many virtues.
“He is sincere and hardworking, I can trust him with work. Whoever is good and deserving gets the responsibility,” said university vice-chancellor Ajmer Singh. He, too, received the anonymous letter, but is inclined to write it off as a vindictive attempt to destabilise CDLU. Once the news broke on 5 January, the number of students with allegations had ballooned to 500—a statistic that made national headlines and found its way into a tweet by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda.
Over the past week, Devi has spoken to hundreds of students who were on examination and practical breaks but were called back to campus to assist with the investigation. But most students claimed they didn’t even know who Sushil Kumar was. As dean of CDLU’s University School of Graduate Studies, which comes with a mountain of administrative duties, he rarely holds classes.
“When girls who fight for admission in college speak about sexual harassment, the risk is that parents will ask her to leave college, or the family will marry her off. Criminals know this,” said Jagmati Sangwan, activist and general secretary, All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA). “Many times, female students express their views by writing letters but that too is being misused by people for personal gains,” added Sangwan.
The allegations have revealed hairline fractures in this serene and green academic haven. A small section of faculty alleges that the vice-chancellor and the dean have too much power.Kumar continues to report to work, though the university’s Women’s Complaints Committee is looking into the allegations. A senior CDLU official said the dean had resigned but it was not accepted.
“This is nothing but political vendetta. I am being targeted because I have been active in some work at the university. I am ready to face any probe against me,” Kumar told the media.
Campus, cold, and the chatter
On a cold winter morning on 9 January, young women bundled up in scarves, sweaters, gloves, and jackets discuss bravery in the washroom. They’ve been called to give their statements to the police.
“If the allegations are true, then those girls should come out and talk to the police,” says a student as she gazes at herself in the mirror. Her friend isn’t convinced.
“I don’t know. Maybe she is scared as they are some powerful people. Not everyone is as bold as you,” she says. Loud rapping on the door ends the discussion. “Please come to the classroom, ma’am has started [the session],” says another student, and everyone rushes to the large ‘gathering hall’ at the APJ Abdul Kalam building.
The sprawling 280-acre campus with its 24 academic departments, hostels, clean wide roads, and ample parking space checks all the boxes of a model university. The gathering hall has brown cushioned seats, and an elevated platform like a small auditorium. Outside the hall, teachers are making panic calls to students who have not marked their attendance. Classes have yet to begin and most of the students are still in holiday mood.
Ishita Sharma, a student of graduate studies,didn’t know what the fuss was about until she caught up with her friends on campus.
“I wasn’t supposed to come to the college but our teacher sent a very strict message; they said we have to come for an official purpose. Now I know about the whole matter. I have never seen the dean before. I don’t know if this [allegation] is true,” she says. Another student claims she learned about the allegations on Facebook.
If the students are curious, the teachers are clearly on edge. They’ve been instructed to make sure that every young woman enrolled in USGS attends the session with the police.
“All students have to come to the college tomorrow for an official purpose and this should be treated as most urgent, time-bound, and strict compliance be made of the orders,” read the teacher’s message in a WhatsApp group. It’s the female students whose attendance they are checking.
At one point, the accused dean walks into the hall, but leaves quickly. Outside the hall, he examines the attendance sheets and asks about students who had not reported to the police.
Of the more than 50 students that ThePrint spoke to, most said they had never met Kumar. The handful who have interacted with him describe him as “strict”.
“I am from the physics department. There was a time when my friend and I went to see sir [Kumar] for some briefing but he did not entertain us and sent us back,” says Pooja Sehrawat. She had some queries about physics practicals, but Kumar re-directed her to her teacher.
In the hall, SHO Devi hands out A4 sized sheets and asks the female students to write about their experience interacting with Kumar and other professors. The students are stumped. “What do we write? What should we say?” they whisper to each other. A few get down to the task and soon others start copying their ‘answers’. It was like a mandatory school test, but everyone was ‘cheating’, under the watchful gaze of around five teachers.
“ASP madam is coming,” announces one teacher. As assistant superintendent of police Deepti Garg enters the room, the whispers cease abruptly. The 2020 batch IPS officer, who is heading the investigation, surveys the hall and instructs the college staff to leave. Though she is soft spoken—the opposite of Devi’s strident voice—everyone obeys her without question. For 15 minutes, Garg speaks to the students alone.
“If anyone wants to say anything, they can come to me directly and their identity will be secured. We have taken your statements here, but if anyone feels they have something to say I am giving my number. You call me or text me,” says Garg. The students nod but remain silent.
Nobody had any questions to ask.
The ASP spends the rest of the time counselling the female students about their rights, cybercrime, and the women’s helpline. It was cybercrime fraud that caught everyone’s attention. Many spoke up. “I lost Rs 10,000 in a cyber fraud,” said a student, adding she never got her money back.
Garg leaves soon after, but Devi and three other women officers stay back to collect the statements of at least 200 students. The session lasts five-six hours, during which the students keep getting calls from their parents.
Over the past few days, police have also been gathering footage from CCTV installed across the campus. But the letter writers alleged that Kumar had control of the CCTVs and the footage.
“The investigation is still under process. There is no FIR yet. We are getting the statements of the girls and we have the CCTV footage also,” says Garg.
University politics
Sushil Kumar (54) has a small army of supporters among faculty and staff at CDLU. He joined the university as a physics professor in 2007, and has steadily risen up the ranks since. Now, he’s dean of USGS as well as director of the Centre of Instrument Facilities, and head of the University IT, Data & Computer Centre. His close ties with vice-chancellor Singh puts him in the centre of CDLU’s inner circle.
On 8 January, the teachers welfare and non-teaching welfare associations held a joint meeting to discuss the anonymous letter. In the end, they wrote a memorandum to Khattar, Singh, and the superintendent of police demanding action—against the letter writers.
“We request you to find out about those people who tried to damage the image of our university. There should be a fair investigation on this matter,” read the memorandum with 202 signatories.
Only a handful of professors openly spoke against Singh and Kumar, but in context of the way USGS was being run.
“He (vice-chancellor Ajmer Singh) is arrogant, insensitive, and unprofessional, and the dean is very close to him. This is very clear that the V-C trusts him very much and has given him so many charges. The dean has become so powerful,” said a professor who did not want to be named. The professor accused Kumar of misusing his power and denying other departments access to the instrument lab.
Kumar refused to comment on the letter or the allegations of abuse of power.
Unlike the dean, Singh is relatively new to CDLU. He was appointed its vice-chancellor in December 2020 and was slated to complete his term in December 2023. But for the first time in CDLU’s history, his tenure was extended by another year.
“He got this extension through political connections. He is arrogant and his language is unprofessional,” said a professor who did not want to be named.
Singh shrugs off these allegations. They’re made by staff who don’t want to work, he says.
“I got the extension because I helped the university grow. And many teachers here also wanted me to stay. There are a lot of complaints against me but I haven’t received a single warning,” says Singh.
Unlike the Jind school, where the administration stirred itself to take action against the ‘predatory principal’ two months after the anonymous letter, the Sirsa police and CDLU acted immediately.
CDLU’s Women’s Complaints Committee, which follows the PoSH Act and has two external members, has taken the matter up. A former member of the committee said this was the first time a sexual harassment allegation was made against Kumar.
“The women in this college are open and outspoken when it comes to complaining about the hotel, professors and their peers,” said a senior university administrative official who did not want to be named. The most recent case, he said, was when a professor was dismissed in October 2022, after complaints of sexual harassment by several students. “There was a case in the history department and after the inquiry, the teacher was asked to resign. We take such complaints very seriously,” said the administrator.
Another teacher was dismissed in the past as well on similar grounds. However, neither the administrator nor Singh were willing to give more details citing privacy of the women involved.
Though CDLU was established in 2003, the University School For Graduate Studies (USGS) is a relatively new entity. Set up in 2021, it adheres to the new National Education Policy and offers four-year and six-year degree programmes. There are 52 permanent faculty in the entire university and more than 200 teachers on a contract basis, said the administration department official. When it comes to enrolment at USGS, men outnumber women, who make up only 36 per cent of the student strength. Of the 1,164 students, only 430 are women. By 9 January, at least 200 had turned up to give their written statements to the police.
A former law student who was on campus is convinced that the letter is an attempt to target CDLU’s reputation. It’s too well written, he claims.
“I can guarantee you that no post-graduate student writes like this. This whole matter is propaganda. The person who did this doesn’t know this will become this big,” he said.
Police and the struggle
The police have refrained from commenting on the authenticity of the allegations, but are looking into who sent the letters. Teams are at post-offices, examining footage from all the CCTVs available.
But outside the campus, everyone from the local tea vendor to residents is talking about Kumar, Singh and the students.
“As far as I can make out, this seems baseless. I asked my daughter and her friends. They didn’t know any girl who had experienced anything like this,” said Ashok Sangwan* (name changed), who lives in a residential colony behind the campus.
By late afternoon, when the temperature was still a low 8 degrees Celsius and the sun nowhere in sight, people gathered around a bonfire by the side of the road and discussed the case over cups of tea.
“The letter is addressed to the local journalist. How did the writers know him? A graduate student can’t be this smart. They sent that letter to big leaders and the media. With no name, this is suspicious,” said one man while sipping his tea.
Others questioned whether it was actually written by any of the students. Women don’t write Hindi so well. “It’s obviously written by someone with experience,” said another resident.
No one in the small group entertained the idea of sexual harassment. Sangwan has started dropping his 20-year-old daughter to the campus on his bike, and now follows the news very closely. His daughter has told him that she doesn’t know Kumar, but he is not taking any chances.
The daughter, meanwhile, is furious that her university has become the centre of public attention, but she doesn’t comment on the contents of the letter.
“In a small city like Sirsa, it is very difficult to send our daughter to college. And when such things happen, people like me become reluctant to do so,” said Sangwan.
(Edited by Prashant)