Guest professor booked for molesting female students at college event gets anticipatory bail

Mumbai, Dec 30 (PTI) A Mumbai court has granted anticipatory bail to a guest professor booked for allegedly molesting female students at an annual function of a city college.

His pre-arrest bail plea was allowed by Additional Sessions Judge Rupali Pawar on Monday.

A detailed court order was not available yet.

As per the case registered at the Azad Maidan police station, the accused was invited as a guest lecturer at the college's annual event on November 24.

The guest professor allegedly misbehaved with nine female student volunteers and touched them inappropriately at the event, said police, citing the complaint.

Further, the accused also allegedly misbehaved with a retired female professor and took selfies with some students without their consent, they said.

Based on the complaint filed by the college principal, an FIR under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) section dealing with outraging woman's modesty was registered against him.

The professor later sought anticipatory bail from the court, claiming the case against him might be due to "misunderstanding" or "personal grudge". The educator, in his anticipatory bail plea, claimed the FIR was registered with an unexplained delay of five days.

The pre-arrest bail plea highlighted the professor's 35-year-old career record, stating he has been invited by "thousands of colleges" without a single prior complaint, and claimed the FIR might have been registered to damage his image in society.

However, police had opposed the plea in the court, contending crime was of serious nature and related to women. The probe agency flagged that since the accused and the victims belong to different communities, "the possibility of communal tension arising (from the case) cannot be ruled out". PTI AVI RSY