A professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is set to face an investigation after eleven students filed a complaint with the university authority claiming incidents of sexual harassment.

University sources said the students filed a complaint with the university’s Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), Hindustan Times reports.

The complaint was filed in May this year, following which the ICC began proceedings and called several students to record their statements, the sources said.

The university then went into a roughly 45-day semester break. When students returned in mid-July as classes resumed, discussions surrounding the complaint resurfaced, a source said.

WhatsApp chat triggers probe

The allegations stem from viva examinations held in the first week of May, when the professor allegedly made inappropriate remarks with sexual connotations, the source said.

In the second week of May, one of the students shared her experience in an unofficial WhatsApp group comprising only students, prompting several others to come forward with similar allegations.

“During viva examinations in the first week of May, the professor made inappropriate remarks with sexual connotations. In the second week of May, one student later shared her experience in an unofficial WhatsApp group which comprises only of students, prompting several others to come forward with similar allegations. He made remarks suggesting that he would award them extra marks if the students accepted his sexual advances,” the source told HT.

“Later that month, a complaint was submitted to the ICC, following which several students were called to give their statements,” the source added.

The JNU administration did not respond to queries sent by HT seeking comment on the matter.

JNU’s action in previous harassment case

The latest complaint comes amid a previous sexual harassment case at the university involving a senior faculty member. In April last year, JNU’s executive council dismissed four staff members, including a teaching faculty member accused of sexual harassment and three others in a corruption case.

The faculty member dismissed in the sexual harassment case was identified as Swaran Singh, a senior professor at JNU’s School of International Studies, HT reported at that time. He was terminated over allegations of sexually harassing a Japanese official from the Embassy of Japan, an official aware of the matter said at the time.

The official said the Japanese official, who coordinated with professors for academic events, had filed a complaint after her last meeting with Singh. “There was clear evidence against Singh, which led to his dismissal,” the official said, adding that multiple complaints had allegedly been made against him in the past.

A senior faculty member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the incident had taken place in May 2024 and that the committee had conducted an extensive investigation, during which both sides were given an opportunity to present witnesses.