Alleged offender issued showcause notice by institute.
A senior faculty of National Institute of Design (NID) has been asked to explain himself over allegations that he harassed a lady faculty.
The institute has issued a showcause notice to senior faculty Vikram Panchal for allegedly harassing a lady faculty member of the institute. Panchal allegedly began harassing the woman after she refused his marriage proposal.
The woman has alleged that Panchal left condoms in front of her office door, pasted strange write ups and even scratched her new car in an attempt to harass her. In August, the woman had complained about the harassment to the institute's director.
A committee of the institute, formed to investigate such harassments, found the allegations to be true. In several meetings with the committee, the woman accused Panchal of mental harassment ever since she joined the institute in 2004.
According to a report of the committee, the woman told the committee that Panchal had proposed marriage to her. But when she refused he began harassing her. As proof of her claim she produced photographs of the write ups that were frequently pasted by Panchal on her office door.
The woman also produced proof to the committee that showed how Panchal had been searching for her details and that of her friends on the internet.
The committee apparently concluded that after his marriage proposal was refused, Panchal indulged in character assassination and tried to ruin her reputation.
When the committee asked Panchal about his side of story he allegedly agreed to the charges. He also admitted to physically abusing another faculty and threatening him because of his closeness to the complainant.
The committee has recommended stern action against the accused. It has suggested that Panchal be relived from all his present positions of authority or transfer him to some other place.
The director of NID, Pradyumna Vyas said, "We have a mechanism to handle such matters and are looking into it." When contacted, Panchal did not deny the incident but refused to comment on it. His terse reply was, "I am busy."
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