JNU sexual harassment case: Who is shielding prof Atul Johri?
JNU is not only known for its academic excellence, but also for consistently upholding the rights of all. To our great shock, we found out a little more than a week ago that a professor, Atul Johri, had been sexually harassing at least eight women students of the School of Life Sciences since 2014. Some of the students went to the dean of the SLS, asking to be transferred from professor Johri’s laboratory, but the dean did not agree.
Professor Johri, according to the students, often makes "sexually coloured remarks, open demands for sex and comments on the figure of almost every girl. If a girl objects, he holds a grudge against her".
Finally, when the women students spoke out, Johri, a known right-wing activist and also a close associate of JNU VC M Jagadesh Kumar, refuted the charges and contended that he was being targetted by left-wing activists for insisting on compulsory attendance. Unhappy with the leniency showed to Johri in such a serious matter, five of the eight complainants said Johri's argument in court was baseless.
Claiming that they have the required attendance, they also produced documents from the School of Life Sciences laboratory signed by Johri showing that the students had been attending classes regularly. As far as his allegation that the complainants are left-wing activists is concerned, several of these women are members of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
Shockingly, the vice-chancellor not only didn't take any action against Johri, he also avoided addressing the issue completely. First the Delhi Police dragged their feet to register an FIR against Johri. To add to the women's woes, the police chose to register only one FIR based on only one of the complaints even though eight separate complaints were filed by as many women students. When Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Mahiwal wrote a strong letter to the Delhi Police commissioner, separate FIRs for each complainant were filed.
On March 20, the police finally arrested Johri. He was produced in Patiala house court where he was granted bail. The police, shockingly, did not object to his bail plea.
The complainants' case seemed watertight under the laws against sexual harassment. Professor Johri was charged under Section 354 of the IPC and Section 509. Section 354 clearly says "whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than one year, but which may extend to five years, and shall also be liable to fine".
Offence under Section 354 of the IPC is also non-bailable.
According to Section 509, “Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman...shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, and also with fine.”
Despite this the magistrate, ignoring the laws on sexual harassment, gave bail to Johri. Since Johri didn’t have the money for the bail, five lawyers appeared to deposit the bail amount. Such a performance could not have been decided at the police level. Obviously, the orders came from above.
It's clear that much that was unwarranted and even illegal was going on. There were clearly high-level attempts to crush the case. Ironically, the ruling party elements were determined to brush the crime under carpet even though the women students included a substantial number of ABVP members.
In JNU, there is complete solidarity among all student organisations over the issue and all sections of the faculty and much of the staff. A staff member and senior leader of the JNU staff association told me that if this kind of harassment could happen in JNU, there is no guarantee that women students would be safe in other institutions of higher learning.
Today, the JNU community will march to Parliament over this and other burning issues. We will not stop agitating until justice is done. But citizens should take note that if this charade is not overturned, women all over the country, not just students, will find their legal rights diminished along with their protections against sexual harassment.