Just when the controversy-ridden inquiry into the sexual harassment case against senior Punjab Agricultural University official, Dr Dulcha Singh Brar, was nearing conclusion, it seems to have suffered a blow which could hamper the inquiry committee’s move towards concluding the issue.In yet another interesting turn of events, Shravan Kumar, who runs the NGO- Nishkaam Sewa Trust, and is the NGO representative on the inquiry committee probing the case, has resigned. Thereby, the report of inquiry, which the Vice Chancellor Dr MS Kang had himself termed ‘complete’, has still not reached the V-C’s table. Though when contacted, Dr Kang and Dean, College of Home Science, Dr Neelam Grewal, who is the chairman of the inquiry committee, had no information about the resignation. Dr Grewal said, “I can only comment about this matter when I see the letter myself.”; while Dr Kang said, “We have given a specific deadline to the member concerned to either sign the report or cite his reasons in writing as to why he is not doing so.” On his part, Shravan Kumar said, “My conscience did not permit me to sign on the report. Some members of the committee had come to me to get the signatures but then I asked them what the hurry was. We have time limit till December 12 and should wait till then.”He said he was unhappy over the fact that the ‘accused’, Dr Dulcha Singh Brar was not heard before preparing the report. However, it must be noted that Dr Brar has refused to speak to the committee that has given him three chances to do the same. To this, Kumar seemed to have no clear answer. Interestingly, Kumar, who could have cited all these reasons in a dissent note, preferred to resign.When asked as to why did he not write a dissent note, he said, “This issue is an internal matter of PAU and I saw no business for myself being on the committee in the first place. Hence, I am out of the issue.” Since the last two months, when this committee began its inquiry into the case, it has witnessed a lot of drama. Accused of unnecessarily delaying the matter, the committee now seems to have hit a roadblock. It even ignored a letter that came from the office of State Department of Finance asking the university to shift the inquiry outside the university.
