New Delhi: Ambedkar University’s internal inquiry has found its law school dean guilty of sexually harassing a PhD student in another university.
The Committee for Protection of Sexual Harassment and Ambedkar University constituted an inquiry committee to probe the allegations against law professor Lawrence Liang and found him guilty. However, the university has not taken any action till now.
Detailing the instances of alleged sexual harassment in 2015 and 2016, the report recommends that Liang should step down from administrative position and “should not be in any administrative position for at least two years from the date of the implementation of the Inquiry Committee (IC)”.
It further recommended that the professor should be issued a warning letter by the university that a complaint of sexual harassment against him in the future can have serious consequences, “this may even include suspension of services or any such steps provided by AUD”.
However, when News18 tried to contact AUD vice-chancellor Shyam Menon, he did not respond to our calls and text.
Liang’s name had earlier appeared in a crowd-sourced list, published on Facebook four months ago, that alleged rampant sexual harassment in Indian universities.
Despite the report being available on various platforms, the complainant is awaiting justice.
“There are a number of instances in course of these proceedings that, I feel, have systematically removed me as a victim/complainant from accessing justice – both substantive and restorative – in a more tangible form that could help me heal from the trauma of his repeat sexual assaults (the chronology of some of which he has mangled, and others he denied, making me out to be a liar in his deposition),” the complainant said in a letter to CPSH-AUD.
The PhD student further said that no steps have been taken to compensate for the “the loss of health or mental health” caused after the sexual harassment.
“Liang continues to hold his position of authority and power despite his conviction, which he uses to influence the outcome of the due process to work in his favour as much as possible. After the report was made public, the professor had immediately written to the VC appealing that the report of the IC stating his conviction may not be handed over to me,” the girl alleged.
Raya Sarkar, who crowd sourced the list, told News18.com, “The report indicates that the university does not have zero tolerance policy since they’ve allowed the convicted person to teach and interact with students. There is no iota of restorative justice for the victim and the discourse is not centred on the well-being and safety of students. The only thing that the report does is validate the survivor's experience of being sexually harassed, which is a positive step. But the bar for sexual harassment redressal cannot be so low.”
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