HOD of Government Medical College, Jammu arrested for Molestation

Late afternoon on December 20 2016, a student was waiting outside the Forensic Sciences’ Head of the Department’s office to discuss her supplementary paper. Her professor, Bhupesh Khajuria called her in after she had waited for hours. Two days later the student told her mother that she had been sexually harassed by Khajuria in that meeting and an First Information Report (FIR) was registered on December 26 2016. The accused was arrested on December 28 2016, booked under FIR 198/16 Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code, “‘Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty”. The sentence carries one to five years in prison.

At the Government Medical College in Bakshi Nagar, Jammu, as told by the complainant to Newslaundry, she was made to wait for two hours at the HOD’s office and a clerk, Jaydev, asked her to go see Khajuria alone. On entering the office, she was asked about the purpose of her visit, to which the complainant replied that she had a supplementary paper in Forensic Medicine. The accused asked her if it had been her first attempt and “scolded (her) lightly” over it. She was made to write her name and number on a piece of paper after which the accused asked her “kahan rehti hai hostel mein? Main bulaunga toh bahar aa sakti hai?” (Where do you stay in the hostel? Will you come out if I call you?)

She admitted that she felt uncomfortable, and distanced herself physically from the professor, to which he said, “Door kyun ho rahi hai? Idhar aa, aise nahi karte, yahan baith ja, darr kyun rahi hai?” (Why are you distancing yourself? Come here, you shouldn’t do this, come sit here. Why are you scared?) According to the FIR, he repeatedly asked her, “what would I get as a favour if I pass you in the exams?” following which he grabbed her hand and kissed her cheek. As he was about to kiss her on the lips, she pushed him away and ran.

The complainant is from Ladakh, over 600 kms away from Bakshi Nagar and is an MBBS student, living in the college hostel. Shaken, the complainant said she tried to look for other students to talk to, but most of them had gone home for the holidays. On getting in touch with some graduates, they told her that Khajuria was a “repeat offender” but nobody had reported him because they feared his power. The permission for internships is signed by the accused. The complainant felt that “somebody had to come forward, or it’d have happened with some junior later.” According to the batchmates of the complainant, the HOD has also been accused of taking bribes from male students in order to pass them in the exams.

Supported by her mother, the complainant registered an FIR as she felt reporting it to the principal would have only led to a “temporary suspension” or a transfer to another department. Nordon Shunu, a friend of the complainant said that the accused is “highly influential” and all the other complaints made against him in the past have not been taken seriously. The Investigative Officer, Rajesh Kumar said that he had tried arguing against setting a bail for the accused. However, Kumar told Newslaundry this morning that Khajuria had recieved interim bail for 10 days, starting January 7.

Suman Kotwal, who heads the Gender Harassment Committee at the college refused to comment. The complainant reported that the committee hasn’t been operative, rather the Principal created another 5-member committee to conduct an enquiry within the case and the complainant was made to narrate the entire incident to them. The committee had to submit a report to the police of their enquiries, but Kumar said that he hasn’t received anything from them yet.

Shunu also informed us that fearing an arrest, the accused admitted himself at the ICU of the GMC hospital, on the grounds that he was suffering from hypertension and seizures due to his diabetes. Some doctors from the hospital reported in a local newspaper, the State Times that they feel the administration is trying to shield the accused, as Khajuria has significant clout. They claimed he was “faking fits” in order to escape arrest. The ICU is meant for critically-ill patients and admitting him on “flimsy grounds” is a waste of valuable resources. The District Court had asked the hospital to submit a report on his admission to the hospital, to which one of the doctors, Kundal reported that the “admission was genuine.”

The inquiry has recently concluded and the trial has been scheduled for this week.