Delhi Govt To Provide Legal Aid To JNU Sex Abuse Survivors

In the JNU sexual harassment case against Professor Atul Johri, the Delhi Assembly has asked the state government to provide legal help to the victims of the alleged molestation case by appointing special public prosecutors, reported TOI.

AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj moved the resolution, which was passed in the Delhi assembly on Wednesday (March 21).

It also said that victims should get counselling from the Women and Child Welfare department and Delhi Commission for women. It reprimanded the "lethargic attitude of the Delhi Police" in filing FIRs based on the victims' complaints.

On the night of March 17, seven students of JNU along with members of Gender Sensitization Committee against Sexual harassment (GSCASH) went to the Vasant Kunj police station to file a sexual harassment complaint against their School of Life Sciences professor Johri.

ALSO READ: JNU Prof Charged With Sex Abuse; Students Claim Delay In Filing FIR

The JNU student union vice-president, Simone Zoya Khan, said the police was reluctant to file the complaint. When the girls persisted, the police finally lodged their complaints.

“There is a financial nexus between the professor and the administration. It has not purchased any instrument for years, but still has spent crores of rupees,” - a complainant

In the email that was leaked on the internet, one of the survivors said that Johri “often makes sexually-coloured remarks, open demands for sex and comments on the figure of almost every girl. If a girl objects, he holds a grudge against her”.

“There is a financial nexus between the professor and the administration. It has not purchased any instrument for years, but still has spent crores of rupees,” she wrote.

JNU students are on strike against the university management for not suspending Johri from his post. The students of SLS even marched to the police station demonstrating against the law enforcing agency for trying to protect Johri.

The Delhi police arrested Johri and produced him in from of magistrate Ritu Singh. In his bail plea, Johri said that sending him to jail would spoil his career.

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