According to police, the complainant, a 22-year-old woman, alleged that she was inappropriately touched while in a pool.
Published May 14, 2024 | 4:09 PM ⚊ Updated May 14, 2024 | 4:09 PM
B Efthikar Ahamed. (Supplied)
Central University of Kerala’s Assistant Professor B Efthikar Ahamed was arrested by the Kerala police on Tuesday, 14 March for sexually harassing a woman.
According to police, the complainant, a 22-year-old woman, alleged that she was inappropriately touched while in the pool of Vismaya Amusement Park at Parassinikadavu in Kannur on the afternoon of Monday, 13 May.
After being caught red-handed, Efthikar was remanded by a local court and was sent to jail, police said.
“Initially, the woman thought that the behaviour of the professor was by mistake. But, when he repeated the same misbehaviour, she reacted against him publicly,” a police officer said.
Based on the information received, Taliparamba police rushed to the park and collected details.
The woman stood by her statement and lodged a complaint against Ahamed, who was taken into custody soon, and his arrest was recorded later, police said.
The sections imposed on Ahamed include IPC Sections 354 (outrage women’s modesty) and 354 A (sexual harassment).
After further inquiry, it was found that Ahamed and his family had visited the park on the same day. He had also posted pictures from the amusement park on his social media account. The police said Ahamed had been remanded.
However, this is not the first time Ahamed has been accused of sexual harassment. In November 2023, the Kannur-based university suspended him till the enquiry was completed, after he was accused of sexually harassing a postgraduate student.
In the suspension order, Vice-Chancellor in charge Prof KC Baiju stated that the university was forced to initiate disciplinary action against the teacher due to the seriousness of the charges levelled by the students.
He has been accused of inappropriately touching a student, who had fallen unconscious in the classroom. He allegedly accompanied the student to the university’s clinic, where he touched her despite protests by the semi-conscious student and the duty doctor.
Furthermore, the university’s medical officer stated that she had witnessed the teacher inappropriately touching the student at the health clinic.
“I was in the outpatient department at the time and the student was admitted to the observation room. I saw Ahamed inappropriately touching the student,” the doctor told reporters. ”
The student tried to push him away, but she was tired. I froze, not knowing what to do,” she recounted.
Ahamed, who is also a television talk show host and a motivational speaker, had been accused of engaging in prolonged lewd lectures under the guise of teaching poetry.
The students who had protested against the assistant professor said Ahamed engaged in lewd lectures with emphasis on different kinds of sexual positions under the guise of interpreting poetry and literature since 7 September, when the new academic year began at the Central University.
Last year, several former students came out in public accusing Ahamad of indulging in sexually loaded conversations in class.
Thirty-three students from the university’s first semester MA English batch had complained about the teacher.
“Ahamad always indulged in conversations about sex, sexual pleasure, and other forms of pleasure, under the guise of interpreting poetry and literature,” the students said in their complaint. His presentations, they claimed, objectified women.
From 7 September, 2023 to 14 November, 2023, they listed some of his alleged words and antics in classrooms. “Oral sex is the best form of communication,” he told the class, according to the complaint.
It was only last week, that Ahamed’s suspension was revoked. He was transferred to the Department of Education from the Department of English and Comparative Literature after several complaints approached the concerned, raising fault in his presence as a faculty member at the department despite the issue.
(With PTI inputs)
