New Delhi: The Haryana higher education department Monday suspended three professors of a government college in Rewari for allegedly preventing a gang-rape survivor from appearing for her exams.
The mother of the college student claimed that one of the professors — Sushma Yadav — told her daughter she shouldn’t “feel special” because of her elaborate police security as she wasn’t the only victim of such an incident and “it was quite common these days”.
ThePrint’s Hindi edition Saturday reported that the three staff members of Nahar Government College — assistant professors Ajit Singh, Jagat Singh and Yadav — had prevented the survivor, a first-year B.Sc student, from taking her Chemistry exam in May this year on the grounds that she couldn’t write the paper in a separate room.
The survivor was accorded police protection and had been writing her semester exams with her security personnel and one family member in a separate room. Yadav allegedly told her that she required permission from the courts to continue with the arrangement and was backed by the other two assistant professors. They also allegedly mentally harassed her over the gang rape incident.
A five-member inquiry, led by the Rewari city magistrate, had found the three guilty of behaving irresponsibly towards the survivor. The inquiry report had been submitted to the higher education department in August.
Rewari Deputy Commissioner Yashendra Singh had in May constituted the committee after the survivor’s mother had approached him over the incident.
The survivor’s case had hit headlines last year as one of the eight accused of raping her was an Army man. The 19-year-old was heading to her coaching classes from her village in Rewari district when she was accosted by three of the accused. She was allegedly taken to the fields where the accomplices of the three joined them.
In all, eight accused were charged under various sections of the IPC, including Section 328 (forcibly administrating intoxicating substances), Section 365 (kidnapping) and Section 376 (rape). Three of the eight are currently on bail.
Also read: Rewari rape case shows our outrage toolkit is selective and predictable
The allegations
The survivor’s mother told ThePrint that she only joined college after concerted medical help.
“After several rounds of counselling my daughter was finally enrolled in the B.Sc. course at the Nahar College. In order to keep her mental equilibrium a special arrangement was made for her examination. She was to write her papers in a special room with full police security and in the presence of one of her family members,” the survivor’s mother told ThePrint.
“But on 18 May, when she had to appear in her chemistry exam, the examination superintendent Sushma Yadav suddenly asked for written permission from a court for such special arrangements. She and two other professors (Ajit and Jagat) disallowed her to appear in that day’s exam.
“After this incident, my daughter’s mental condition worsened as the professors started yelling at her. I kept appealing to the college administration for more than an hour-and-a-half,” she added.
“Sensing that my daughter’s condition was deteriorating, the police personnel deployed in her security took her to a hospital. After that, I came back home.”
The mother further said that Yadav belonged to their village and was allegedly acting on the behest of the accused. “She (Yadav) mentally pressurised my daughter by taunting her on several occasions,” she added. “Yadav told my daughter that she was not the only victim of such an incident and that it was quite common these days. She also told her not to ‘feel special’.”
Rewari DC Yashendra Singh told ThePrint that the inquiry found the charges to be true.
“We thoroughly investigated the matter in a neutral manner and found that charges levelled by survivor’s family are true. We had forwarded our report to the higher education department, Chandigarh,” Singh said. “If the survivor’s family is still not satisfied with the investigation process or with the action taken by us, then they can take the matter forward to any authority.”
Also read: Gangrape, sexual abuse by uncle, taunts — what UP girl went through before killing herself
What the probe report said
After going through all the recorded statements, complaint details and duty charts, the five-member committee found that Ajit Singh and Jagat Singh were not supposed to be on duty at Nahar College on that day.
The report said that not only were they present, they also allegedly yelled at and humiliated the survivor. Yadav was also found guilty of irresponsible behaviour and negligence for stopping the survivor from appearing in the exams.
The report also quoted college principal Shreemati Krishna as having admitted that she was unaware that the girl was a gang-rape survivor. Krishna told the probe committee that she called up the survivor’s mother on the same day and apologised.
She also ensured that the survivor was granted written permission to write her exams separately while Yadav was immediately relieved from her duty as an exam centre superintendent.
Defending her actions, Yadav told the committee that as per university’s guidelines, no candidate is allowed to sit alone in the exams unless he or she submits a written order from the court. When the survivor was asked to sit on the seat allotted to her, she refused to comply, the assistant professor was quoted in the report as having said.
The three also defended themselves claiming that the survivor attended college as a regular student, had adequate attendance, and then wanted to sit separately during the exams.
The survivor’s mother, however, disputed the claims and said her daughter had not attended a single day’s college and was only allowed to write the exam as a special concession.
On Monday, she expressed happiness at the suspensions. “I am happy that they are suspended. I hope that they realise their mistake and don’t harass any rape survivors in the future,” she said.
Also read: Far from being the solution, Haryana One Stop Centres seem to be adding to women’s problems