Jammu and Kashmir Minister for School and Higher Education Sakina Itoo said on Friday that a college principal and an assistant professor had been suspended following a complaint of alleged harassment by a female student at a Srinagar college.
On Thursday, students at Srinagar’s Amar Singh College had held a protest over the alleged harassment of the student.
After the incident, the assistant professor was “disassociated from all academic affairs of the department with immediate effect until the inquiry is completed”.
Responding to a question about the incident, Itoo on Friday termed it unfortunate.
“If there is such an incident anywhere in Kashmir, then I think there is nothing more unfortunate than this. We have zero tolerance in such cases,” she said.
She said that after the complaint was received, she directed the suspension of both the principal and the assistant professor.
“I instructed the secretary to suspend both of them. We have also ordered an inquiry,” she said.
She said the probe would be completed at the earliest.
“This is a very sensitive issue. We cannot tolerate these things. The government cannot tolerate these things. We want our daughters to study. If such a situation arises, where will parents get the confidence to send their daughters out, or even to educational institutions here?” she said.
She said that after the probe report was received, the strictest action would be taken if anyone was found guilty.
