Days after 13 female MBBS students from Delhi’s Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College accused an assistant professor of pharmacology of sexual harassment during a viva examination, the Directorate of Vigilance, Government of Delhi, has urged the Health & Family Welfare Department to propose disciplinary action against the accused.
Taking cognisance of media reports and the severity of the allegations, the Vigilance Department highlighted the need for action in a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Health & Family Welfare Department.
Noting that two students have recorded their statements under Section 164 of the CrPC, the letter emphasised the gravity of the situation
The letter also said that it had been reported in the media that the accused was arrested and booked under Section 354(A) and 509 of the Indian Penal Code.
The letter explicitly requested the Health Department to promptly send the proposal for initiating disciplinary action against the accused professor to the Directorate of Vigilance.
“The Health Department, GNCTD, has not yet sent the file for taking disciplinary action (against the accused),” the letter stated.
“It is requested to send the proposal for initiating necessary disciplinary action against the accused professor to the Directorate of Vigilance, GNCTD, for placing before the competent authority as per the extant rules,” it added.
According to the FIR registered on February 22, an MBBS student from the 2021 batch alleged that on January 31, during a practical examination in the pharmacology department, she was subjected to inappropriate and irrelevant questions by the assistant professor of pharmacology, Salim Sheikh, during her viva. The questions made her feel ‘uncomfortable’.
In her complaint, the student described how Sheikh positioned her chair unusually close to him, deviating from the usual setup where students sit across from the teacher.
“Despite providing the relevant answers, Sheikh persisted with inappropriate and irrelevant questions, leading to my discomfort,” she claimed in the FIR.
She also mentioned feeling uneasy when Sheikh asked her about injections and allegedly touched her knee and thigh.
The situation escalated when Sheikh purportedly touched her neck and attempted to touch her private parts under the guise of asking questions. Feeling distressed, the student stood up, but Sheikh continued with his irrelevant inquiries, accompanied by suggestive gestures, the FIR said.
The student claimed that Sheikh then suggested a private session to enhance her answer-writing skills, promising to manipulate her marks if she cooperated.
In the FIR, the complainant claimed that similar incidents had also occurred with other students, who chose to remain silent fearing academic repercussions.
Despite lodging a formal complaint with the college’s director-principal and attending a grievance committee meeting, the student alleged that the authorities blamed her and discouraged her from pursuing legal action against Sheikh.
“The head of the department, Neeta Wardhan, purportedly sided with Sheikh, accusing the student of levelling false allegations to manipulate internal assessments,” the FIR said.