A severe allegation against a professor has been made by a student conducting research at Aligarh Muslim University’s Wildlife Science Department in Uttar Pradesh. The student claims that the professor threatened her with consequences when she opposed his demands for inappropriate favours in exchange for turning in a research paper.
This disappointed the student, so she complained about it to the Deputy Inspector General/Superintendent of Police online. As a result of this, the district police called the student, filed a complaint on their behalf, and filed a case at the women’s police station. In a video she posted, the student made severe accusations against the professor, claiming that he frequently made inappropriate comments about her clothing, physique, eyes, and lips.
According to the student, she cleared the entrance examination for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) in 2017 and subsequently enrolled at AMU, where she is pursuing her Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor Afifullah Khan. After five years of rigorous work, she compiled valuable data and prepared a research paper, which she submitted six months ago. However, Professor Afifullah Khan and other members of the department did not provide any feedback on it.
The student revealed that the professor would make inappropriate comments about her clothes, body, eyes, and lips. Initially, she chose to ignore it, but when the professor’s chamber was relocated behind her, he began crossing the line. The student expressed that it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to tolerate such behaviour. She was eagerly waiting for her PhD submission to free herself from the professor’s clutches. Although her pre-submission was completed, the professor did not comment on it, nor did the department provide any reaction.
The professor allegedly told the student that if she wanted her complaint to be heard, she should go ahead and complain to whomever she wished. He claimed that he was not afraid of anyone, not even the Vice-Chancellor and that no one could harm him. The student mentioned that she had emailed the AMU administration, but received no response.
The registrar forwarded her email to the Internal Complaints Committee for investigation, but no action was taken apart from preparing a report during a meeting. The report allegedly provided a clean chit to the accused professor.
The student accused the AMU administration of encouraging such misconduct. She stated that she wanted to submit evidence, but the investigation only involved the preparation of a report. The student has now filed a case against the professor for harassment and molestation at the Civil Lines police station, and the investigation is ongoing.
