V-B case: Investigating team changed

SNS, Santiniketan/Behrampore, 5 September: The investigating team looking into the sexual harassment case at Viswa-Bharati has been changed.

The case will now be investigated by a two-member team headed by the inspector-in-charge of Suri police station Ms Nandita Das; Mr AS Mahapatra of Santiniketan police outpost is the second member of the team. Mr Mahapatra was earlier the investigating officer of the case.

The three Viswa-Bharati students accused in the case were produced before the Bolpur ACJM, who sent them to jail custody for ten days. Police had asked for further police custody of the three but the ACJM, Sanhamitra Poddar did not grant the appeal and sent them to judicial custody.

Students of Viswa-Bharati, meanwhile, observed the birthday of the assault victim today, staging a march in the V-B campus as a mark of solidarity. They also staged a demonstration in front of the Black House of the Kala Bhavana campus.

Sources, meanwhile, a team from the UGC is coming tomorrow to Santiniketan. The reason for the visit is still unknown. They are going to talk to varsity officials, including vice-chancellor Sushanta Dattagupta.

The Pradesh Congress president, Mr Adhir Chowdhury today wrote to the Human Resource Development ministry and urged the HRD minister to look into the molestation charge brought recently by a girl student against some senior students of Visva Bharati University.

Expressing concern over such ‘incidents that bring disrepute to the heritage establishment of Rabindranath Tagore’, Mr Chowdhury asked the HRD ministry for appropriate action against the V-B authority.