Photo Credit: Lucia Whittaker

The Associate Professor of Marketing who is accused of sexual harassment at the Indian Institute of Management Indore may even stand to lose his job if he proved guilty. Accused of sexually harassing a junior lady professor at the institute, the director of IIM-I, Dr N Ravichandran will take a final call on the case on Tuesday, February 26, 2013.

The degree of punishment may however vary depending on the extent of wrong-doing as found by the Gender Sensitivity Committee which is presently studying the case. If he has to be let-off on a lighter sentence, he could simply be excused with a brake in increments and promotions.

The complainant is also a professor of Marketing and junior to the accused. Sources say that the said incident happened on campus, which is why the case was referred to the institute’s authorities and not the police. However, sources also add that in case the verdict does not go in favour of the victim, the case could be forwarded to the local police station.

Ironically, both the professors (the accused and the victim) who stay on the campus are going about their duties as usual. While there are fewer lectures, it being exam time, neither of the professors has opted to stay out of work till the case comes to a close. They are both faculty for IIM-Is PGP programme.

The complaint was originally filed on February 20, and forwarded to the institute’s Gender Sensitivity Committee. A series of meetings have been held by this committee in which both, the accused and the victim have recorded their statements.

Sources also add that the complainant has also forwarded her plea to the chairman of the institute KV Kamath in the hope of a speedy redress. It is believed, in fact, that the incident is not a fresh one and the complainant had forwarded her complaint to the Gender Sensitivity Committee months earlier but since no cognizance was taken of her complaint, she then referred it to the chairman.

IIM-I spokesperson Dr Akhtar Parvez hoever, told told PaGaLGuY that it was not true and the complaint has just been filed. “The institute has taken a serious note of the incident and justice will be done” he added.

This is not the first such case to hit an institute as premium as the IIMs. IIM Bangalore was also the scene of a sexual harassment case. Going by that case, when it took months for any action to be taken, for IIM Indore to take a call within a week is quite noteworthy. Lets wait for February 26 to hear the verdict.