University of Hyderabad research scholar accuses guide of 'beastly behaviour'

Sex is generally second only to politics in generating student-teacher strife. The latest to fall prey to scandalous developments is the University of Hyderabad. For the better part of February, the university's life was disrupted as a 25-year-old research scholar, Anusuya Rout accused her 45-year-old guide Hridaya Narain Singh, a microbiologist, of what she called "beastly behaviour". For the comparatively conservative students of this south Indian campus, the news was shocking enough to send them on the warpath.

The students scored the first point in the subsequent chain of events, conspicuous by the absence of violence. The professor was suspended after a two-day enquiry by an ex-high court judge. "An agreeable surprise," remarked a student. The strike was called off as soon as the verdict was announced, but the matter didn't end here.

Buttonholed into making his observation after the enquiry, the 71-year-old ex-judge V. Parthasarathi intoned: "The facts and the data that have been collected establish the need for a full enquiry because the charge cannot be dismissed as unfounded or unwanting of detailed scrutiny. I have recommended to the vice-chancellor that there is a prima facie case for a fuller enquiry. I could not have done that unless there is a strong possibility of the charge being brought home."

Dramatic Turn:The verdict raised many eyebrows, for there was sufficient evidence, even without the researcher being heard, to establish the case for suspension. Apart from the xeroxed copy of a letter written by Anusuya, Parthasarathi relied upon, among other things, the statements of two former women researchers who had worked in Singh's laboratory, and the professor himself. Perhaps Anusuya who walked out of the laboratory probably for the last time, on a Saturday afternoon on February 7 did not expect such a dramatic turn of events.