Action by LCC against Nair Hospital prof in sexual assault case

MUMBAI: The Local Complaints Committee (LCC) of the BMC has recommended action against an associate professor of BYL Nair Hospital against whom a sexual harassment complaint was filed by a female medical student who is also a sportsperson. A meeting was held on August 26, after which the LCC checked on the incident and found that the complainant’s claims were correct.
According to the confidential report submitted by the LCC on September 5, the student complained that the associate professor called her twice to his cabin to inquire about her sports activities. During the meetings, he touched her inappropriately, claiming it was part of a medical examination, and made comments that made her feel uncomfortable. The student first approached an assistant professor after the incident in March, and when nothing was done, filed a complaint with the college’s Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), which was later taken to the LCC.
The LCC is a key component of the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013 which addresses the issue of sexual harassment of women in workplaces and is a forum for the redressal of such complaints. After an investigation into the Nair Hospital case, the committee sent a letter to the hospital’s dean asking for the immediate transfer of the accused professor until the student completed her education. It also directed the hospital administration to take care that the faculty member did not serve as an examiner in any of the assaulted student’s exams.
In addition to this, the committee has also mandated that the professor’s next payable salary increment be held off for a year and a formal written warning be given to him. Action has also been recommended against the assistant professor who the student first informed about the sexual harassment and who took no action. The LCC has directed that he be given counselling and a formal written warning be served to him before he can resume his teaching duties.
While both professors were taken off academic duties and given administrative duties instead by the hospital’s ICC, the student, unhappy with the unsatisfactory response, approached the LCC. The hospital administration’s delayed action came to light during the investigation, and the LCC, in its letter, expressed its disappointment with the dean’s handling of the case and has consequently sent him a formal warning. The hospital has also been asked to submit documentation to the LCC to confirm that it will implement the mandated steps within 15 days.
Dr Sudhir Medhekar, the Nair Hospital dean, claimed that he received the information about the sexual harassment case from the internal complaints committee on April 12 and “made sure to take all the steps required”. “By the first week of June, I made sure to take the professor off all academic activities,” he said. “The case was later moved to the LCC.”
Dr Medhekar said he had implemented everything as directed by the LCC in its confidential report except the transfer of the associate professor. “The transfer procedures are done by the administration,” he said.