With no holds barred, and no ‘disrespect’ to anyone be it Sanjay Dutta, Minati Chaklanovis, or Sister Marie Jessie, Newsnet one editor Frank Krishner continues to ask questions.

In a fast changing narrative, what was first a complaint of inappropriate classroom behaviour by a Patna Women’s College teacher, has now been changed to ‘sexual assault’. Sanjay Dutta, who had resigned in the heat of an agitation against the college administration for allegedly ‘protecting’ him has turned tail and fled.

The turns and twists in the stories around the case are so many, that it is difficult to keep track of the many narratives.

Naina Jha asks on facebook, “The much talked about molestation case by a teacher of PWC has few things which is beyond my understanding. It might be that the teacher is the culprit but I wonder how come in last 6 years nobody has brought it into picture. This puts a question mark on the pass outs of BMC students of past 6 years.

Then recently I saw news of cabinet members threatening girls protesting against college administration. Hard to believe that just 13 cabinet members are successful in threatening more than 100 protesting girls, if at all they have.”

Good question, if the students were so scared to report this molester when they were students, what stopped them from speaking after they graduated? They could have filed a complaint then. (BMC= Bachelor of Mass Communication)

The BMC head, Minati Chaklanovis, has done her duty by bringing up this matter of harassment. There is no doubt that if students feel embarrassed by a teacher’s behaviour, it is the right thing for the head of department to inform the principal. Unfortunately, the question must be answered: did the administration (and that includes the HoD) do enough?

Now there are all sorts of unsubstantiated stories floating around the campus and cell phone networks. One narrative is that a BMC student, who went to the college in May during the afternoon to have her documents signed for her on the job training, was the real victim. The story is that Sanjay Dutta bolted the doors of the room (or office) and molested her. Now the story gets clouded. Either this student or other students later complained to the HoD, who then informed the Principal, Sister Marie Jessie. Really complicated, no? (This is not the official version). If such a thing happened, why didn’t the ‘real victim’ have the confidence that both the HoD and the Principal would ensure justice? Or was it that there pressure on the girl (such as family, status etc) for her to back out? Why wasn’t she assured that in all such cases, her identity would remain anonymous?

Now to get to the main question: why has Sanjay Dutta bolted? Why has he run away?

The counter narrative (read here) is this. It is acknowledged that the accused teacher was a stickler for rules, very strict towards students, and that he was practically saddled with a lot of nuts and bolts organisational work in the BMC department, particularly when the department was ‘headless’ for a period of time.

Something curious that Minati Chaklanovis said, picked up by a local newspaper: Sanjay Dutta avoided giving his residential address for the department records, putting it off on one pretext or another. Really strange that the college has his cell number but not his local address. But teachers submit various details to the college, included updated CVs almost every year. In the past six years, how could this man remain under the radar? Maybe because for some time he had been handling a lot of the official files of the department? More questions!

Was it true that the man was a victim of internal politics of his department? If so, why not come out and state his case boldly? Especially now that his name has been dragged into the mud?  What has the man to lose?

One would expect that such an upright fellow would stand his ground and face the allegations, (which at first were nothing to do with sexual assault, but with questionable utterances in class.) He had several recourses open to him:

[a] Immediately resign and then remain in the city, ready to answer any enquiry committee.

[b] Refuse to resign, appear before the committee, inform the police that of his whereabouts and willingness to cooperate.

[c] In the event of threats, (and there were many from the politically aligned ‘students leaders’), approach the police for protection.

[d] In the event of the escalation of complaints, move for anticipatory bail, and face the enquiry.

Why run? In the face of such accusations, why not use the media, wouldn’t it be in his interest to issue a statement? Surely it would be carried. The hungry local channels would definitely carry his rebuttal. Why pack up and run? Why leave an aging father and two sisters alone to face the music?

Those who have interacted with Sanjay Dutta say he was a quiet man, polite, even unctuous. His lack of courage and his running away have now raised a larger issue. Was this man a pervert who started off quietly and then grew bolder and bolder every year, because nobody reported him? Did he really stalk vulnerable young women in the corridors of the BMC department?

Or was he really a foolhardy, weak man with a misplaced ego  who got fried by someone who was adept at well-planned gender politics?

Every way you look at it, this is not at all good for a college marking its glorious 75^th anniversary!

  Frank Krishner, Patna Women’s College