According to MU sources, Sumit Palkar, 22, an MSc student on the Kalina campus, started sending SMSes to her young assistant professor a year ago.
While University of Mumbai (MU) is organising a national seminar on “Sexual Harassment in Educational Institution”, discussing how professors, principals and management persons sexually harass women students and employees, one of its own women professors is trying to get over the mental stress caused by a student’s lewd SMSes to her over a period of one year.
According to MU sources, Sumit Palkar, 22, an MSc student on the Kalina campus, started sending SMSes to her young assistant professor (name withheld) a year ago. The professor initially ignored the messages. But soon, the frequency of the messages increased.
Unable to bear the mental agony, she complained to her seniors and the head of the department (HoD). A professor said, “When the HoD called the boy and inquired about the matter, he flatly denied sending any SMS to the woman professor. However, he was warned and let off. But he remained undeterred and continued to harass her.”
On October 5, 2011, the horrified professor finally complained to the Women Development Cell (WDC) of the varsity which investigated the matter. “Whenever the boy was called to appear before the cell, he denied any wrongdoing. Then we roped in the cyber crime cell of the police to find out the source of the SMSes and the sleuths confirmed that it was he who had been sending those messeges to the woman professor,” a WDC member said.
The WDC then requested the Controller of Examinations to withhold his result. When that was done, the boy broke down and confessed to the crime. He even apologized to the professor, but the WDC stood its ground. Then the boy’s father met WDC members and requested them to reconsider their decision as it would ruin his career.
“When we inquired about the boys family background from his father, he told us that his son lost his mother at the age of two and that he did not have a sister also. We felt perhaps that’s why his attention was diverted towards his professor. We also realised that the boy’s action was nothing but expression of sexuality,” the WDC member said.
Knowing the boy’s background and considering that it was a question of his career, the professor forgave him. She even took back her complaint.
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