Dalit female teacher of BHU accused several university officials including the Registrar of harassment, said- ‘Promotions are being taken on the basis of forged documents’
Dr. Shobhana Narlikar, Head of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh, has accused several officials of the university of harassing her and getting promotion on the basis of forged documents.
The Mooknayak | Published on: 24 Jan 2025, 2:04 pm
Uttar Pradesh: Dr. Shobhana Narlikar, Head of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) located in Varanasi district, through a press conference on Thursday, accused several officials of the university of harassing her for years and getting promotion on the basis of forged documents.
Dr. Shobhana Narlikar, who originally hails from the Dalit community and is a resident of Maharashtra, in a letter issued during the press conference, has accused the university’s Rector Prof. Sanjay Kumar, Registrar Prof. Arun Kumar Singh, Faculty Head Prof. M.S. Pandey and Prof. Anurag Dave of harassment, getting money allocated arbitrarily from the university’s special fund and getting promotion on the basis of fake and fabricated documents.
She has demanded that her full powers as a department head be restored and an inquiry be initiated against those involved in the case, otherwise she will be forced to resort to Satyagraha.
Dr. Shobhana alleged that, “Ever since I became the Head of the Journalism Department, I have constantly tried to stop the looting of self-financed courses in the department. From time to time, the then Faculty Head of Arts Faculty, along with Prof. Shishir Basu and Prof. Anurag Dave, have looted the funds of self-financed courses by providing fake documents and by bribing the University administration in an illegal manner. The latest example of which is that the current Faculty Head, Prof. M.S. Pandey, along with Prof. Anurag Dave, has got funds allotted arbitrarily from the University’s special fund.”
She further said, “I humbly request the Prime Minister of the country and Varanasi MP Honorable Narendra Modi ji, along with the Rector, Registrar, Faculty Head and other officials through a press conference that if my full rights as the Head of the Department are not restored and an inquiry is not set up against these fake teachers namely Prof. Anurag Dave, Dr. Swarn Suman, Dr. Dhirendra Rai and Dr. Amita, then within a week an oppressed woman from the Dalit community will be forced to do Satyagraha, the full responsibility of which will be of the University administration and the Central Government.”
Let us tell you that Dr. Shobhana Narlikar has earlier also accused many officials of the university of harassment. In January 2021 also, she sat on a dharna in front of the central office of the university. At that time, she alleged that being a Dalit, she was being mentally harassed in the university. It was alleged that due to being a Dalit, administrative officers and professors of the department have been harassing her continuously since 2013. Despite doing regular work, her seniority was being affected by showing her leave without pay in the office.
Dr. Shobhana joined the journalism department of BHU as an assistant professor on 19 August 2002. At that time she was a PhD holder. Two days later, Dr. Anurag Dave also joined the department as an assistant professor, but he was not a PhD holder.
About 2 years ago, in 2023, a video of Dr. Shobhana Narlikar went viral in which she was seen holding slippers in her hand and talking harshly to students. When The Mooknayak asked about this, she said, “This video was wrong. It was edited and circulated. The same people whom I had accused had edited it and made it viral.”
65 teachers of BHU had complained to the Vice Chancellor against Professor Shobhana Narlikar
Dr. Shobhana had filed a case against Professor Pankaj Kumar under the SC/ST Act. Angered by this, a group of 65 teachers approached the Vice Chancellor with a complaint. At that time, the Vice Chancellor had assured a judicial inquiry into the allegations from both sides. A committee was also formed under the leadership of retired Justice Kalimullah. Many students had also protested against him. However, regarding the students protesting against him, Dr. Shobhana says, “At that time, Bhumihar students of the university were instigated to stage a sit-in protest against me.”
Similarly, she had also filed a case against Professor Shishir Basu under the SC/ST Act. But, a court in Varanasi declared him innocent in 2022, almost 10 years later. The court had said in its order that the victim had talked about harassment since 2003, but it took a decade to file a complaint.
Court order in SC/ST Act case
Dr. Shobhana tells The Mooknayak about this , “I did not have witnesses in this case, so the court dismissed it. Because my witness – my driver – was bought by Basu by paying money. He is from here and I am from Maharashtra..!! When Basu sexually harassed me, many people including my driver, peon saw it. But no one wants to help a woman. In such cases, one has to go to BHU every time before going to court. I went to BHU in this case, went to SC-ST Commission, went to Women’s Commission, went to UGC, went to Human Rights. After going to all these doors, I went to the High Court. After that, my case was sent from the High Court to the lower court. It took me six years to do all this.”
She says, “Ever since I became the head of the department, all the meetings have been held in the dean’s cabin. No file comes to me for signature. Despite being the head of the department, I have no authority.”
The Mooknayak tried to contact the Vice Chancellor of BHU for his comment on the matter , but his comment was not available till the time of writing the news.
