Sexual harassment: Victim’s husband ‘warned’

Mysore, March 8, DHNS

Four persons in the guise of scribes have warned Dr Vijaykumar, husband of the research student who has made sexual harassment charges against her guide Prof Shivabasavaiah, of dire consequences, if he stuck to his charges made against the Vice-chancellor Prof V G Talawar that the latter ignored the complaint lodged by his wife.

“I was at the hospital on Monday around 11.30 pm, when four people introduced themselves as journalists and took me out for a talk. They warned me of dire consequences if I continued pressing charges against the Vice Chancellor”, Vijaykumar told Deccan Herald. Recalling their warnings, Vijaykumar said they wanted him to drop the charges against the VC, and they didn't really care what he did with Shivabasavaiah. However, Vijaykumar is yet to lodge a complaint in this regard at the jurisdictional Jayalakshmipuram Police Station. “Since my wife still needs attention, I am unable to go to the station leaving her under someone’s care, or least of all, unsupervised”, Vijaykumar said. Vijaykumar said that he has been orally summoned for probe on March 11 by Women Harassment Complaint Committee which investigates such charges, at the varsity. According to sources, Shivabasavaiah has also been summoned. Protests Close on the heels of various organisations staging protest demanding action against Prof Shivabasavaiah, HoD, Zoology Department, University of Mysore, on Monday, students under the banner of Federation of Dalit Students staged a protest in support of Vice-chancellor Prof V G Talawar and Shivabasavaiah here on Tuesday. The protesters including boys and girls, who arrived in a rally at Crawford Hall, held placards in support of Talawar and Shivabasavaiah, and against Legislative Council’s Deputy Chairperson Vimalagowda and MLC Bharathi Shetty, and Prof Suresh Nayak a colleague of Shivabasavaiah for hatching the conspiracy. Former mayor R Purushothama who had taken the lead said that Talawar and Shivabasavaiah were being targeted for no fault of theirs. The state government could have waited for the report from the committee formed to probe such charges in the varsity, before taking action. However, in contrast to this, a complaint has been lodged against them at Vijayanagar Police station here- with Shivabasavaiah being prime accused and VC the second, Purushothama said. A few of the girl students among them spoke in favour of Shivabasavaiah.  They later proceeded towards the office of Deputy Commissioner and submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner Harsh Gupta. Much before the Lakshmipuram Police who had thrown a blanket of security around the Crawford Hall could heave a sigh of relief, BJP activists under the banner of BJP Yuva Morcha staged a protest against the federation. State BJP Yuva Morcha Vice-president Devanur Prathap, Bogadi Chandru were prominent among those  in the lead