[ Bengia Ajum ]
NAMSAI, 10 Jan: The Arunachal University of Studies (AUS) here has been accused of harassing a lady assistant professor, which culminated with her being terminated from her job.
Political science assistant professor Jishma S Nair, who has been working with the university for the last three years, has alleged that AUS authorities terminated her from her job “without any valid reason and without following the due procedure.”
According to her, the whole problem started in November last year.
On 5 November, when the Arunachal Literature Festival (ALF) was being organised here, Nair wanted to attend it.
“Prof Rupakjyoti Borah, dean of arts and social science, asked me to take his class on the day as he wanted to go out for an outing. However, I informed him of my inability to take his class as I had already planned in advance to attend ALF. He got very angry when I refused to follow his diktat and started insulting me,” Nair said.
She alleged that professor Borah passed a racist remark. “Very angrily he mouthed: ‘I know how the work culture of people out here is’. I took strong exception to this kind of insult, but he kept yelling at me and threatened me by saying: ‘Let me see how you are going to stay in this institution,'” said Nair, who is married to a local Khamti man.
She alleged that, “from the next day onwards, professor Borah started sending complaints about me, alleging that I had not performed my duties, and sought show a cause notice through our head office.
“I did reply to the notice after consulting my senior, but got no response. After a few days, I was suspended from my service, alleging that my husband threatened to kill him, which is untrue. If so, then when did it happen? If he had been assaulted or threatened as he alleged, at least there should be some evidence and eyewitnesses,” she said.
Further, Nair claimed that she was called for two proctorial board meetings. “The second one was humiliating and stressful as, during my suspension period, professor Borah was able to influence the faculties and they changed their statements in favour of him. All these happened when I was two months pregnant.
“Because of these things happening at the university, I had a miscarriage and lost my baby,” said Nair.
She said that, when she wanted to file a criminal case, the management of the AUS assured her that the matter would be looked into.
“I was waiting for justice to be served. But yesterday, telephonically, the chairman of AUS told me that I am being terminated from service. No clarifications were given for the reason for terminating my service,” she said.
She also alleged that several faculty members have faced a similar situation before her in the past. “Many faculties face such problems in AUS. After years of service, they are not given an experience certificate. Before terminating, they ask the faculties to resign themselves. And many do resign as they get no support. Recently, one Arunachali lady faculty also resigned after getting harassed,” she added. Further she claimed to have faced sexual harassment at the work place. Established in 2012, the AUS is one of the most famous private universities in the state.
Meanwhile, when contacted, AUS deputy registrar HB Sharma in a written response alleged that Nair neglected her assigned duties and took leave of absence without approval.
“Jishma Nair being a gold medalist of her batch was hired as a contractual faculty member as she was not qualified to be a permanent faculty member as per UGC norms. She was also offered a scholarship to pursue her PhD. But she did not comply with mandatory conditions for the grant of scholarship. When the dean reported her indiscipline, her husband physically assaulted and tried to kidnap the dean of the university publicly. The dean has filed a police complaint but no action has been taken by the police on that complaint,” the AUS stated.
The AUS also alleged that, on Tuesday, 30 people took the law into their hands and stormed the office of the vice chancellor, and disturbed the semester-end examination of the university.
