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Sexual harassment complaint: Ambedkar University holds dean guilty, asks him to step down

The University’s CPSH found that between 2015 and 2016, Liang, Dean of its School of Law, Governance and Citizenship, had sexually harassed a female PhD student at another university from where the latter completed his doctorate.

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A senior faculty member at Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD), Lawrence Liang, has been asked to step down from his administrative post after an internal inquiry found him guilty of sexual harassment charges. Four months ago, Liang’s name had appeared in a crowd-sourced list of alleged sexual predators in Indian educational institutes that was published on social media.

The University’s Committee for Prevention of Sexual Harassment (CPSH) found that between 2015 and 2016, Liang, Dean of its School of Law, Governance and Citizenship, had sexually harassed a female PhD student at another university from where the latter completed his doctorate.

Even as the student was not from the University, AUD formed a two-member probe committee after receiving a complaint from her on October 27, last year. Considering the evidence produced by the complainant in her defence, the committee noted: “the incidents did constitute sexual harassment as per the definition in the AUD policy and the law of the land”.

According to the final inquiry report, dated February 20, a copy of which is with DNA, the committee recommended that Liang should step down from all administrative posts and should not hold any administrative post for at least two years. It also asked the university to issue him a “warning letter” saying he will face serious consequences if another complaint comes up against him. Liang has also been asked to undergo a course--sexual harassment at workplace--as identified by the CPSH.

According to sources in CPSH, in his testimony before the inquiry committee, Liang claimed that he shared a “very friendly relationship” with the complainant from April 2015 to September 2017, and described their few interactions as “borderline romance” that involved “mutual attraction”.

When DNA contacted him via email, Liang, a researcher and lawyer based in Bengaluru, refused to comment on the issue, citing ‘confidentiality’. The committee members did not respond to DNA’s queries. Student representatives in CPSH confirmed the committee’s action in the matter.

Meanwhile, the complainant expressed her concerns over the committee’s recommendations. According to her, by allowing Liang on the campus even after being convicted, the AUD is allowing him to further “misuse” his powers.

“The disciplinary actions against Lawrence Liang drafted into the report are inadequate. It barely does justice to IC members’ promise to me,” she said in a letter to the CPSH, a copy of which is also with DNA.

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