IIM Rohtak Director Booked For 'Sexually Harassing' Ex-Colleague

The Haryana police have booked the director of Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Rohtak, Prof Dheeraj Sharma on the charges of sexually harassing an ex-assistant professor of the institute. He was booked on May 29 at the women's police station in Rohtak.

Rohtak’s Women Police Station in-charge. inspector Garima, said that the police have registered a case against the director under Sections 354 (intent to outrage women’s modesty) and 354 A (sexual harassment) of the IPC.

In her complaint, the woman said that Sharma started harassing her soon after she joined the institute on Sept 1, 2017. She was on probation for three years and Sharma was her reporting manager. However, the woman was terminated from her services recently on May 10.

The 34-year-old woman alleges that Sharma harassed her both mentally and physically. She alleges that he pressured her to get into an extra-marital affair with him.

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According to the FIR, the woman alleges, “He (Sharma) passed objectionable comments and vulgar taunts related to my private sex life with my husband and asked whether my weight becomes a hindrance. One day, he came in my cabin and groped my private parts.”

The complainant alleged that the accused had threatened to spoil her career if she raised her voice. She said she had complained against Sharma to higher authorities.

In her police complaint, she states, “No appropriate action on my complaint has been taken yet and hence, I seek justice.”

In a letter to the police dated May 10, Col (retd) Tilak Bose, the officiating chief administrative officer at IIM Rohtak, claimed that the woman used to misbehave. Also, she used to threaten that she will lodge false cases against the faculty and the management.

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Bose’s letter said, “This lady during the course of her employment used to frequently misbehave and threaten to lodge false criminal cases against the faculty and management.. Having found her services not up to the mark despite repeated counselling the management was… constrained to terminate her services.”

However, the complainant claimed that her services were terminated because she didn’t surrender to the director's advances.

The accused is out of station and is yet to be questioned.

Gunit Kaur Sethi, a spokesperson of the institute, claims that the complaint is the fallout of the termination. The woman is trying to defame the director and the institute. She said, “She is doing this to defame the director and the institute. This is all an afterthought.”

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Deepali Is An Intern With SheThePeople.TV