Man who sexually abused PhD scholar at IIT-M arrested

Debsharma was arrested by a special team of the Chennai Police from Kolkata on Sunday

Chennai police has picked up a research scholar, Kingshuk Debsharma, for allegedly sexually assaulting his fellow Ph.D. scholar from West Bengal, in an action that came a year after the 30-year-old woman filed a complaint.

Debsharma was picked up by a special team of the Chennai Police from Kolkata on Sunday and is currently at the Diamond Harbour police station. He will be brought to Chennai after getting a transit warrant from a magistrate.

The development comes two days after the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) held a press conference in Chennai alleging that the police was complacent in the case and has not even invoked rape charges on Debsharma despite a year having passed since the complaint was filed.

The 30-year-old Ph.D. scholar had alleged that Debsharma and seven others have mentally and sexually harassed over a period of four years from 2016 to 2020. The AIDWA said the police did not book the accused under relevant sections despite the Complaint Committee Against Sexual Harassment (CCASH) of the IIT-M concluding that Debsharma had verbally and physically abused the survivor.

On its part, the IIT-M said It followed all processes for investigating the matter of the scholar. The Ph.D. scholar is a Dalit.

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