MP High Court orders SIT probe into sexual harassment case against Jabalpur Univ VC

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe allegations of sexual harassment against Rajesh Verma, Vice Chancellor of Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya (RDVV), formerly Jabalpur University.

The court intervened after serious discrepancies surfaced in two earlier investigations, including the unexplained disappearance of crucial CCTV footage.

Justice Vishal Mishra of the Jabalpur bench, who passed the order, questioned the credibility of the previous inquiries and expressed suspicion that officials may be “hand in glove” with the university’s senior leadership.

“The board initiated an inquiry, which found that wrong answer keys of the cancelled paper had been uploaded due to a ‘human error’ that led to the discrepancies,” said HPBOSE Secretary Vishal Sharma.

The High Court directed the state’s Director General of Police (DGP) to constitute an SIT consisting of three senior IPS officers.

At least one member must be a woman officer not below the rank of superintendent of police, and all members must be from outside Jabalpur district.

The SIT will be headed by an officer of Inspector General (IG) rank or above and must submit its findings by June 16.

The case involves allegations made by a female employee at RDVV.

The matter was initially referred to the university’s internal complaints committee by the state government, which later submitted a report to the court.

However, the court noted inconsistencies in the university's and its legal counsel's statements about CCTV footage from the room where the alleged incident occurred.

While RDVV's counsel had assured the court on Feb 7 that the footage had been preserved, the internal committee later claimed that the CCTV camera in that room was non-functional.

The court subsequently asked the Jabalpur Collector to examine the issue. In his affidavit, the collector said he was “not satisfied” with the committee’s findings or the manner in which the inquiry had been handled.

Upon reviewing the evidence, the High Court found that the committee had failed to gather critical materials and made “no efforts” to obtain the CCTV footage.

It sharply criticized the quality of the investigation, stating it “carves out suspicion on the officials who have carried out the investigation.”

“This gives an impression that they are hand in glove with the officers of RDVV,” the court observed.

“It is argued by the petitioner’s counsel that the person against whom the allegations are made has high political connections and is very influential, therefore, there is every possibility that the inquiry reports submitted are managed reports, because on two occasions, this court gave opportunity to the authorities to investigate the matter properly. But the reports submitted were found to be dissatisfactory.”