BHU VC pushes to regularise appointment of hospital head indicted for sexual harassment

After witnessing unrelenting protests by women students on his campus, the Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) is caught in yet another controversy. Barely a day before the government’s freeze on recruitment comes into effect — given that he is retiring in two months — VC Girish Chandra Tripathi pushed through several faculty appointments, including that of a teacher who was earlier indicted for sexual harassment.

In the meeting of the Executive Council held on September 26, put forward a proposal to regularise OP Upadhyay’s appointment as Medical Superintendent of Sir Sunderlal Hospital, on the BHU campus. In 2013, Upadhyay guilty of sexually harassing a 21-year-old woman by the magistrate’s court at Fiji’s Nasinu.

Such an attempt made by Tripathi assumes significance not only because of the ongoing crisis in BHU was triggered by an alleged incident of sexual harassment on campus but also because the HRD Ministry prohibits all Central university heads from making appointments in the last two months of their term. And Tripathi is set to retire as BHU V-C on November 27.