Bengaluru college students protest alleged sexual harassment by professor; demand his termination

BENGALURU: Tension prevailed at a private college at Jayanagar, 9th Block, on Thursday morning when a large number of students staged a protest seeking action against Prof Sanjeev Kumar Mondal, head of one of the departments, for allegedly sexually harassing a 19-year-old student. The students alleged that the college management locked them inside the auditorium and called the police to control the situation. The students gathered on the college premises around 9.30 am and started protesting. Soon, the college management cancelled classes. The students, who wanted to continue theirprotest on the main road in front of thecollege, were not allowed to go out. They were not locked inside the auditorium as alleged. The management had asked them to assemble there to persuade them to call off their protest. The students demanded thattheprofessor be terminated from service,the police said. After an FIR was registered against Mondal, we issued a notice to him to appear before the investigating officer for questioning on Wednesday. As the matter went viral on social media, Mondal did not go to the police station for questioning, a police officer said. Mondal allegedly sexually harassed the student, who hadattendance shortage and scored low marks, after inviting her to his home for lunch. He invited her home after promising that he would take care of her attendance and marks,according to the police.