Sherubtse college has forwarded the alleged harassment case involving an assistant lecturer to the police last week. The assistant lecturer was also suspended. An enquiry team from the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) found probable harassment of three students by the lecturer.
A group of 10 female students lodged complaints against the assistant lecturer to the college in May this year. They alleged the lecturer of body shaming, late-night chats and academic partiality.
The college management committee carried out its own investigation. The investigation found the lecturer guilty of professional misconduct. As an administrative action, the college issued him a last written warning liable for termination without benefits and placed him under observation. The college also decided to withhold his promotion for three years after the completion of his Masters.
According to the college, the students were asked to take the matter to the police if they were not satisfied with the administrative action taken by the college. The college said it did not receive any complaints, verbal or written, from the students against the action.
However, the case came to the public domain after a newspaper covered the story recently. The college then requested the RUB to send an enquiry team to look into the matter with legal representations since it has no legal capacity. The team met with the 10 students and the accused. The enquiry revealed that seven students’ complaints were about academic partiality. However, three students were reportedly found to be mentally disturbed due to the lecturer’s late-night chats and body shaming in the class.
Police are investigating the case.
Sonam Darjay in Kanglung
Edited by Sonam
