Prof Biswajit Ghosh of DU punished over sexual harassment of student

Dhaka University’s Department of Bangla has relieved Professor Biswajit Ghosh of his duties on allegations of sexually harassing a student of the department.

The room allotted for him at the Faculty of Arts has been taken away from him, and authorities will recommend more action against him if the victim agrees.

All 17 teachers present in a meeting of the department’s Academic Committee voted in favour of penalising the professor on Mar 29.

He, however, denies charges of harassing any female students and claimed that he has been “subject to some sort of conspiracy”.

The department's Chairperson Prof Syed Azizul Haque remained tight-lipped over the matter, yet other teachers of the faculty said a female student had lodged a complaint against Prof Ghosh accusing him of sexual harassment in March.

Prof Haque read out the complaint in the meeting and bdnews24.com saw the minutes of the meeting.

It added that Prof Ghosh apologised for the incident saying “it was a mistake and he begs forgiveness and mercy from everyone".

“But the members of the Academic Committee did not accept his appeal taking into account the previous complaints of past sexual harassment against him. Even if [Biswajit] pleads innocence, the committee did not deem it true. Rather his apology and begging for mercy amounted to a confession to his misdeeds.”

On this, Prof Biswajit Ghosh said, “I think a group of students jealous of my success and fame resorted to this trickery. I think this happened because I'm a teacher belonging to a minority group. I strongly protest this and call for the proper adjudication of the incident and uncovering of the truth.”

He had also worked as the vice-chancellor of Rabindra University in Sirajganj.

The sanctions prevent him from taking classes, observing and reviewing exams and from working on the examination committee for MPhil and PhD exams.

The committee also decided to keep him off the C&D Academic Committee meetings.