Jadavpur University has barred a non-teaching staffer from entering its campus after a first-year arts student alleged that she was sexually harassed inside Technology Bhavan, with the university’s Internal Complaints Committee scheduled to consider the case on Wednesday.
The alleged incident took place on Friday at about 3.20 pm on the sixth floor of Technology Bhavan, according to the complaint reported by the Times of India. Students submitted a plaint against the staffer to Vice-Chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee, seeking punitive action and a time-bound inquiry.
The exclusion order was issued by acting registrar Debajit Dutta on the direction of the vice-chancellor. It cited Clause 9 of the University Grants Commission’s Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women Employees and Students in Higher Educational Institutions Regulations, 2015. The order states that the staffer will remain barred from entering the campus until the ICC completes its inquiry or another connected order is issued.
The university’s action separates the immediate administrative measure from the final determination of the complaint. The order restricts the accused staffer’s access to the campus while the inquiry is pending; it does not establish the allegations. The staffer told the Times of India that he had not gone to the university on Monday after learning about the notice and described the action as unjust. He denied the allegations, saying he had been framed and punished without fault.
A university official said an ICC meeting was scheduled for Wednesday and that the case could be placed before the committee. The committee is the institutional mechanism responsible for examining complaints of sexual harassment under the UGC regulations. Its proceedings are expected to determine how the complaint is taken forward within the university’s prescribed framework.
The case has also prompted student mobilisation on campus. Some students marched to the vice-chancellor’s office seeking action and a fast trial in this case as well as in other matters pending before the ICC. Their demand places the university’s response within a broader concern about the speed with which complaints are handled and communicated to students.
For a residential and teaching campus, the dispute brings attention to how universities manage access, safety and accountability while an inquiry is under way. Technology Bhavan, where the alleged incident was reported, is one of the university’s academic buildings, and the complaint has raised questions about the safeguards available to students when interactions with staff occur inside campus facilities.
The immediate institutional steps are the campus restriction imposed on the staffer and the scheduled consideration of the matter by the ICC. Further action will depend on the committee’s proceedings and any subsequent order issued by the university.
