Over the last few months, Delhi’s premier institution St. Stephen’s College has found itself in a spate of controversies, with college principal Valson Thampu placed right in the middle of them.
First, a third year undergraduate student’s independent online magazine was taken offline after the principal’s objection to it and the student suspended till Delhi High Court intervened. Soon thereafter, another researcher filed a sexual harassment complaint against a college professor, further tarnishing the college’s image, at least in the media.
Now, these two controversies seem to have converged as the researcher as well as the e-magazine’s founder Devansh Mehta have accused the college authorities of illegal confinement and defamation, among other things, after an incident on Thursday. Mehta alleged that a student in the college’s chemistry lab locked them from outside when Mehta accompanied the researcher when she went to check if her samples for research were intact in the lab. On seeing the two, he said, a student who was already present in the lab ran out to take a call and locked the door from outside.
The researcher, afraid of going alone to the lab, had asked Mehta to accompany and he obliged. “I did not want to go alone to the lab and so I requested Devansh Mehta to accompany me,” she said in her complaint to the police, alleging that compounds crucial for her research were missing from the lab. “I noticed that compounds NY-6, 2NY-91, 2NY- 92 were missing and also I think I don’t find the compound 2NY-132 and these are those important compounds based on which I have to write my PhD thesis. An entire chapter of my theses is based on compound NY-6 and I was very surprised to not find it there.”
Mehta added, “We were scared and infuriated to be illegally detained in our own campus. I didn’t know what to do as the student just ran away and we were shouting and banging the door. Finally, I decided to call the police by dialling 100 but the college authorities arrived first and they tried to forcefully get us out of the lab but we didn’t want to come out until police arrived.”
The researcher, meanwhile, argued in her complaint to the police that Mehta was handled roughly by college staff and he was “very nearly punched” by Kunal Prakash, the student who allegedly later accepted in front of the police that he had locked the duo inside the lab, albeit for “five minutes”.
Vandalism charge
It was only when the police arrived on the scene that the tension was defused as all parties were summoned to the Principal’s office. However, Samuel Shekhar, administrative assistant at St Stephen's, alleged in the middle of the meeting that there were reports that the researcher had damaged an instrument worth Rs 5 lakhs in the lab.
Delhi University Teachers’ Association President Nandita Narain, who teaches at St Stephen’s, was also present on the scene following a call from Mehta’s lawyer asking her to check up on the matter as they had been in principal’s office for a long time. Narain said that they all rushed to the lab where some students claimed that some instruments were broken but police questioned the students and administrative assistant as to why they had not brought up the matter earlier.
“The police officer asked why didn’t they say it before since the police was on campus for more than an hour by then,” Narain said. “It is unlikely that these students just decided to break an instrument and kept it there. The charges against them don’t add up and the authorities are needlessly maligning and indulging in character assassination of the sexual harassment complainant and Devansh who is leaving for Columbia in a few weeks.”
By evening, however, everyone left the office with college authorities claiming that they would investigate the matter internally and there was no need to file a formal complaint. Mehta, however, said that he was shocked to learn that they had gone ahead and issued a press statement on the issue already and also involved the police.
“There has been a regrettable act of vandalism and trespass in the college premises. The Delhi Police are currently investigating the matter,” St Stephen's Media Adviser said in a press statement.
Mehta, however, questioned the allegation asking how students of the college could be accused of trespassing. “She is a researcher enrolled with college and I study here too so how can we be accused of trespassing in our own college? The student who locked us in should face action but they are blaming us instead,” he said.
“I thought they would not do anything on this issue since there’s no evidence against us and we are the ones being victimised,” he said. “But they still filed a complaint and then we decided to file our own [charges] for defamation and illegal confinement.”
Legal tangle
Following the incident and under supervision of her lawyer, the researcher decided to file a formal complaint (a copy of which is with Scroll), against the college with the police at Maurice Nagar Police Station.
“Prima facie this seems to be a case of intimidation, forceful confinement and more seriously sabotage or theft of my compounds which are essential to my PhD theses. I request an investigation to get to the bottom of this matter,” she said in her complaint.
The complaint also alleges that the college hasn’t disbursed her stipend on the instructions of Professor Satish Kumar, accused of sexually harassing her in the college premises and allegedly threatening her with consequences in case “she didn’t wear a yellow sari to the lab”.
“Today when I again went to collect my cheque and asked Mr Kishori Lal about this that earlier also I came to collect my cheque and it was written on the cheque “stop payment”,” the complaint states. “I told him that the cheque was of two months Dec 2014. and Jan 2015 of the amount of Rs.36040 then he told me that may be Dr Satish Kumar instructed like this. On asking about the stipend of other months, Mr Kishori Lal said that Dr.Satish Kumar has not passed any order to release my stipend.”
Principal Valson Thampu, however, spoke to PTI and claimed that this was a “constructed controversy”.
"This is another constructed controversy,” he is quoted to have said. “I had personally handed over the stipend cheque to her in December, the cheque in question today is for the next six months, which has not been issued as the documents need her PhD guide's signature and he is not available as I had 'advised' him not to visit the college".
Officials at the police station refused to divulge details of the matter to Scroll. Principal Valson Thampu didn’t take queries on calls and text messages and said he was in Kerala.
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First, a third year undergraduate student’s independent online magazine was taken offline after the principal’s objection to it and the student suspended till Delhi High Court intervened. Soon thereafter, another researcher filed a sexual harassment complaint against a college professor, further tarnishing the college’s image, at least in the media.
Now, these two controversies seem to have converged as the researcher as well as the e-magazine’s founder Devansh Mehta have accused the college authorities of illegal confinement and defamation, among other things, after an incident on Thursday. Mehta alleged that a student in the college’s chemistry lab locked them from outside when Mehta accompanied the researcher when she went to check if her samples for research were intact in the lab. On seeing the two, he said, a student who was already present in the lab ran out to take a call and locked the door from outside.
The researcher, afraid of going alone to the lab, had asked Mehta to accompany and he obliged. “I did not want to go alone to the lab and so I requested Devansh Mehta to accompany me,” she said in her complaint to the police, alleging that compounds crucial for her research were missing from the lab. “I noticed that compounds NY-6, 2NY-91, 2NY- 92 were missing and also I think I don’t find the compound 2NY-132 and these are those important compounds based on which I have to write my PhD thesis. An entire chapter of my theses is based on compound NY-6 and I was very surprised to not find it there.”
Mehta added, “We were scared and infuriated to be illegally detained in our own campus. I didn’t know what to do as the student just ran away and we were shouting and banging the door. Finally, I decided to call the police by dialling 100 but the college authorities arrived first and they tried to forcefully get us out of the lab but we didn’t want to come out until police arrived.”
The researcher, meanwhile, argued in her complaint to the police that Mehta was handled roughly by college staff and he was “very nearly punched” by Kunal Prakash, the student who allegedly later accepted in front of the police that he had locked the duo inside the lab, albeit for “five minutes”.
Vandalism charge
It was only when the police arrived on the scene that the tension was defused as all parties were summoned to the Principal’s office. However, Samuel Shekhar, administrative assistant at St Stephen's, alleged in the middle of the meeting that there were reports that the researcher had damaged an instrument worth Rs 5 lakhs in the lab.
Delhi University Teachers’ Association President Nandita Narain, who teaches at St Stephen’s, was also present on the scene following a call from Mehta’s lawyer asking her to check up on the matter as they had been in principal’s office for a long time. Narain said that they all rushed to the lab where some students claimed that some instruments were broken but police questioned the students and administrative assistant as to why they had not brought up the matter earlier.
“The police officer asked why didn’t they say it before since the police was on campus for more than an hour by then,” Narain said. “It is unlikely that these students just decided to break an instrument and kept it there. The charges against them don’t add up and the authorities are needlessly maligning and indulging in character assassination of the sexual harassment complainant and Devansh who is leaving for Columbia in a few weeks.”
By evening, however, everyone left the office with college authorities claiming that they would investigate the matter internally and there was no need to file a formal complaint. Mehta, however, said that he was shocked to learn that they had gone ahead and issued a press statement on the issue already and also involved the police.
“There has been a regrettable act of vandalism and trespass in the college premises. The Delhi Police are currently investigating the matter,” St Stephen's Media Adviser said in a press statement.
Mehta, however, questioned the allegation asking how students of the college could be accused of trespassing. “She is a researcher enrolled with college and I study here too so how can we be accused of trespassing in our own college? The student who locked us in should face action but they are blaming us instead,” he said.
“I thought they would not do anything on this issue since there’s no evidence against us and we are the ones being victimised,” he said. “But they still filed a complaint and then we decided to file our own [charges] for defamation and illegal confinement.”
Legal tangle
Following the incident and under supervision of her lawyer, the researcher decided to file a formal complaint (a copy of which is with Scroll), against the college with the police at Maurice Nagar Police Station.
“Prima facie this seems to be a case of intimidation, forceful confinement and more seriously sabotage or theft of my compounds which are essential to my PhD theses. I request an investigation to get to the bottom of this matter,” she said in her complaint.
The complaint also alleges that the college hasn’t disbursed her stipend on the instructions of Professor Satish Kumar, accused of sexually harassing her in the college premises and allegedly threatening her with consequences in case “she didn’t wear a yellow sari to the lab”.
“Today when I again went to collect my cheque and asked Mr Kishori Lal about this that earlier also I came to collect my cheque and it was written on the cheque “stop payment”,” the complaint states. “I told him that the cheque was of two months Dec 2014. and Jan 2015 of the amount of Rs.36040 then he told me that may be Dr Satish Kumar instructed like this. On asking about the stipend of other months, Mr Kishori Lal said that Dr.Satish Kumar has not passed any order to release my stipend.”
Principal Valson Thampu, however, spoke to PTI and claimed that this was a “constructed controversy”.
"This is another constructed controversy,” he is quoted to have said. “I had personally handed over the stipend cheque to her in December, the cheque in question today is for the next six months, which has not been issued as the documents need her PhD guide's signature and he is not available as I had 'advised' him not to visit the college".
Officials at the police station refused to divulge details of the matter to Scroll. Principal Valson Thampu didn’t take queries on calls and text messages and said he was in Kerala.
