Baripada: Police on Thursday arrested the Head of English Department (HoD) of MPC Autonomous College in Baripada for allegedly misbehaving with a girl student.
Even as the incident took place on November 15, the students alleged that despite complaint against the HoD, no action was taken against him by college authorities.
Protesting inaction by the college administration, students reportedly locked up the main gate and vandalised the college property yesterday. Subsequently, police rushed to the spot after getting information and arrested the teacher on the basis of the complaint of the victim girl and other students.
According to reports, the accused HoD Bidyadhar Andia had allegedly misbehaved with the girl when she had gone to return classroom keys to him.
"When I was handing over the keys, the HoD held my hands. When I objected, he tried to pull my cheeks and asked me to come for class tomorrow. The teacher caught me when I was trying to leave the room," alleged the complainant.
The girl subsequently brought the matter to the notice of her family who then lodged a complaint with college authorities. However, inaction by the college authorities forced the students to stage a demonstration yesterday.
"The teacher misbehaved with the girl while he was taking some extra classes. The girl informed the matter to her parents following which a complaint was lodged with the college authorities. However, the concerned authorities did not take any action against the teacher," alleged a student of the college.
"We will leave college after a couple of years but we are concerned about our future generation as students will continue to come to English department. If this type of behaviour by teachers is ignored, it will create problems for others,' said another student.
On the other hand, Principal of MPC Autonomous College Jharana Behera said that the college administration has taken necessary action against the HoD.
"Following the physical harassment complaint, he was replaced as the HOD of the department and he was also asked to go on leave. He was ousted from his role in Language Lab and Odisha State University and relived from all the responsibilities of the college," informed Behera.