JNU Constitutes New Inquiry Panel in Nivedita Menon’s Case

Professor Nivedita Menon has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court, against the Jawaharlal Nehru University administration, that had accused her of allegedly “disrupting” academic council meeting. Acting on a petition the JNU Administration has reconstituted a new inquiry committee, as Menon has demanded a fair procedure of inquiry to look into the charges against her. The new enquiry committee will be headed by Prof. Ashok Prasad, University of Delhi.

The earlier inquiry committee was headed by Professor Bidyut Chakrabarti, against whom Menon had deposed, before a committee inquiring a sexual harassment complaint at Delhi University in 2007. As a result, the University of Delhi had debarred Chakrabarty from all administrative posts in the University for three years. Stating legitimate apprehension of bias, Menon had objected to the committee being headed by Chakrabarty and made numerous pleas to the University to reconstitute it. But the University officials sent her repeated letters, asking her to appear before the inquiry committee anyway. Seeking fair inquiry into the matter, Prof. Menon approached the Delhi High Court.

It was also reported that this particular inquiry was initiated without the knowledge of the University’s Academic Council. The members learned about the inquiry only after receiving letters that invited them to depose in front of the committee. It also asked them to talk about anything they had to say about the events that lead to the disruption of the 142nd Academic Council meeting held on December 26, 2016. No other faculty member had received the notice in this connection except Prof. Menon.

Menon is an eminent scholar and is currently the Chairperson of the Centre for Comparative Politics and Political Thought at the School of International Studies, JNU. Senior activists, academics and public intellectuals have questioned the biased attitude of the JNU administration in adopting unfair procedures of inquiry. More than 100 activists and academics have described the on-going inquiry as harassment and have demanded an immediate withdrawal of these charges and dissolution of the inquiry committee. They accused the JNU administration of abiding to flawed and biased procedure. They stressed that this case highlights the strategy adopted by people in positions of power, of trivializing sexual harassment and using their official positions to take revenge against women who have complained or testified against them