Gurugram: The Sonipat police in Haryana have booked a professor of O.P. Jindal Global University in the city, Sameena Dalwai, for “outraging the modesty of female students” on a complaint lodged by Renu Bhatia, the chairperson of Haryana State Commission for Women (HSCW).
An FIR under Section 509 (intending to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Rai police station Friday. The Print has a copy of the FIR.
Mahinder Singh, station house officer, told ThePrint that the police had begun investigations in the case. “No arrest has been made so far,” he said.
Bhatia’s complaint against Dalwai — professor and assistant director at the Centre for Women, Law and Social Change of Jindal Global Law School — alleged that the professor had made “fraudulent use of Bumble (dating app) profile ID” and “exhibited several profiles of female students” in the classroom.
“I am writing to bring to your attention a serious incident that outraged the modesty of female students and the unauthorised and fraudulent use of Bumble profile ID by a professor in the class that exhibited several profiles of female students during such activity. I request your immediate intervention and appropriate action in this matter,” says the complaint.
“The incident occurred on 23 September, 2023, in the classroom of… O.P. Jindal Global University, where Sameena Dalwai… committed the said acts,” alleges the complaint addressed to the Sonipat police commissioner, adding that “during my (Bhatia’s) official visit to the campus on 7 November, students confirmed the distressing incident”.
ThePrint reached Dalwai via calls on her mobile and through text messages but she did not respond. This report will be updated if a response is received.
Faculty members who teach on the university’s gender and society course have written to the vice-chancellor expressing solidarity with Dalwai. The professor specialises in gender, sexuality and law.
In the communication, which ThePrint has accessed, the teachers state: “We, the faculty teachers of Gender and Society, write this email in support of Prof. (Dr.) Sameena Dalwai in the context of a social media leak that is negatively impacting our colleague and our university’s reputation over the past few weeks. In this letter, we would like to bring attention to the violation of safe space in Dr. Dalwai’s classroom, and affirm that we as a global university, continue our commitment to internal processes that can both protect the pedagogical autonomy of faculty while creating space for students to raise concerns.”
“The external smear campaign against Prof. (Dr.) Dalwai undermines the practice of safe
space and mutual trust between teachers and students, and the reputation of our colleague,” it adds.
Sangharsh, a student collective, also posted a message of solidarity with Dalwai on Instagram.
The matter of the dating app was first raised by Rashmi Samant, author of Ram Janmabhoomi: The Inspiration for Hindu Resurgence, in a social media post on 3 November. It contained a clip purportedly made by a student in Dalwai’s classroom, showing her opening the dating app while teaching.
“The professor at @JindalGlobalUNI who thinks “Jai Shree Ram” is problematic & Hamas is being unfairly “trolled” by students she likes to stereotype as “Right wing” on campus is seen running “Bumble”, a dating app (like Tinder), swiping people left -right in her class making students extremely uncomfortable (check attached chats) bordering harassment. I request @RenuWBhatia1 to take cognisance of the issue,” Samant wrote.
Bhatia subsequently visited the university on 7 November to speak to the students, following which a show cause notice (8 November) and a “warning letter” (13 November) were sent by vice-chancellor C. Raj Kumar to Dalwai.
𝙐𝙋𝘿𝘼𝙏𝙀: 𝙑𝘾 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙊.𝙋. 𝙅𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡 𝙂𝙡𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙡 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙥𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙗𝙮 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙧 (𝘿𝙧.) 𝙎𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙣𝙖 𝘿𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙞 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚.
The Vice… pic.twitter.com/DdiQEKN9yZ
— Renu W Bhatia (@RenuWBhatia1) November 17, 2023
Bhatia’s compliant to the police says, “Professor Sameena has not only confessed but also openly admitted in her reply to show-cause notice to the (university) vice-chancellor ‘how to open a new account, etc’. that she was involved in the creation of accounts. Shockingly, the video testimonies provided by students to the HSCW chairperson further corroborate her admission, revealing that several fake accounts, including one impersonating (Congress leader) Rahul Gandhi, were orchestrated by the professor. This revelation unveils a disturbing pattern of coercion, as students were allegedly forced into impersonating others on dating apps.”
The allegations
Bhatia’s complaint says, “Professor Sameena Dalwai inappropriately and unlawfully outraged the modesty of several girl students.”
“In a shocking revelation, it has come to light that Professor Sameena has been accused of grossly inappropriate and unlawful behaviour, causing distress among several female students. The incident, which unfolded when the professor opened a dating app during class, violated the student’s privacy and dignity,” it says.
“The distressing video circulating online on X vividly illustrates the professor’s objectification of the affected students, amplifying the gravity of the situation. This reprehensible act not only breached the boundaries of professionalism but also demeaned the dignity of those involved,” it adds.
It further alleges that Dalwai “forced students to use dating apps and create fake accounts” and accused the professor of “breach of privacy” which “stands as a grave offence under the provisions of applicable laws”.
“To substantiate the complaint, the victim female student has recorded their statement on 7/November/2023 in camera on assurance of confidently, the same is available in a video format, which is available to Haryana State Commission for Women. The video recording serves as crucial evidence in establishing the veracity of the incident, and the same will be provided during the investigation,” Bhatia says in the complaint, requesting the police to initiate a thorough investigation and ensuring that appropriate legal action is taken against Dalwai.
“I also urge you to take necessary steps to ensure the safety and well-being of the girl students involved, as this incident has had a severe impact on their mental and emotional state,” she adds.
Bhatia had on 7 November posted on social media that “students had confirmed the accusations of harassment and violation of privacy during classes” by Dalwai.
𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟. 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐃𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐢
I visited the campus of @JindalGlobalUNI
today and had the opportunity… pic.twitter.com/eTLArmQnWH
— Renu W Bhatia (@RenuWBhatia1) November 7, 2023
“It was extremely heart-breaking to witness first-hand that the institution even failed to provide a safe space for the students to complain without the consequences of further targeted harassment,” she wrote.
A day earlier, prior to visiting the university, Bhatia had put up a post attaching a letter to the university vice-chancellor informing him of her visit. She had also tagged Samant’s earlier post on Dalmia.
It is disheartening to witness the distressing situation within @JindalGlobalUNI . The compromise of privacy and dignity of students, especially female students, by the use of a dating app and obscene material by a faculty amounts to harassment. I'm appalled by such actions.… https://t.co/VgH3vdX1Io pic.twitter.com/CJEv5waHPK
— Renu W Bhatia (@RenuWBhatia1) November 6, 2023
Bhatia on 17 November also put out another post with a copy of the university’s “warning letter” to Dalwai that listed two allegations that the university “prima facie found to be true”.
While one referred to “violation of privacy of students”, the second pertained to “harassment of students by discriminating (among) them on the basis of ideology and religion”.
It added that Dalwai had “accepted the truth” of the first allegation and “mentioned that it occurred as part of a pedagogic approach”, while for the second she had said that “the act was unintentional”.
Teachers’ words of support
The faculty members’ communication on the Dalwai issue said that “in the Gender and Society course, we aim to create safe spaces in our classroom where people with different experiences and identities can express themselves and learn about each other without any fear of harassment, discrimination or bullying”.
“Unauthorised recordings of our classroom discussions and activities decontextualise our lectures and end up misrepresenting our larger learning objectives, putting all of us and JGU at risk of being misrepresented,” it added.
“We strive hard to maintain space for all concerns to be raised in classrooms in a non-arrogant and collegial way, through dialogue and discussion. In keeping with JGU’s spirit and sensibilities, we seek to re-affirm the classroom as a safe space for all faculty and students, to uphold the spirit of learning with curiosity and compassion. Violating a safe space (via non-consensual recording in this case) is a violation of the ethics that all students and faculties hold dear at JGU,” it said.
According to the letter, “activities and discussions on dating and dating apps offer creative opportunities to understand everyday manifestations of caste, gender and class, a topic that many of our students have engaged with great enthusiasm. We acknowledge that, given the sensitivity around the subject, some students may not like a particular theme or way of teaching. In that case, we encourage students to raise their concerns in the classroom, which can be sorted in an amicable way”.
The teachers expressed confidence “that JGU will stand with our colleague, our faculties (sic) and students as we confront this difficult moment. We appeal to resolve this through internal mechanisms so we can focus on our teaching and research, and help restore the reputation of Prof. (Dr.) Dalwai and JGU at large”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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