IIT Madras professors get anticipatory bail in sexual assault case
Two IIT Madras professors accused in a sexual assault case were granted anticipatory bail by the Madras High Court. A case was registered against seven after a Dalit scholar alleged sexual assault by fellow scholars.
ChennaiApril 20, 2022
File Image of Madras High Court
Madras High Court on Wednesday granted conditional anticipatory bail to Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT) professors Edamana Prasad and Ramesh Gardas.
A case was registered against Kingshuk Debsharma and seven of his friends, including Prasad and Gardas for sexually assaulting a Dalit scholar from 2016 to 2020.
The student joined IIT Madras on July 14, 2016 and got acquainted with Kingshuk. He allegedly sexually abused her, took pictures of her and used them to blackmail her for four years.
According to the FIR, Prasad and Gardas are the fifth and sixth accused in the case. The survivor, after undergoing nearly four years of torture, had attempted suicide but was rescued by her friends. She then raised the issue with IIT Madras officials and an Internal Committee was constituted.
The findings of the committee against sexual harassment recorded that the survivor had undergone verbal abuse and was physically abused twice by Kingshuk. The committee recommended that all students involved in the issue should not be permitted to enter the campus until the survivor completes her thesis.
However, due to the pandemic, classes were conducted online but the accused were allowed to attend them along with the survivor, causing her more trauma.
The survivor then sought the help of Suganthi, State General Secretary of All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA). A complaint was registered with Mylapore All Women Police Station on March 29 2021, but the FIR had only registered a complaint under sections 354, 354B, 354C and 506 (1) and omitted rape charges as she didn’t explicitly mention the word rape. Furthermore, no charges under Prevention of Atrocities against SC/ST were filed.
The prime accused Kingshuk Debsharma is currently out on anticipatory bail.
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