Vice-Chancellor Sushanta Duttagupta has denied the charge.
The West Bengal Commission for Women has written to President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, among others, demanding that the Padma Shri awarded to the Vice-Chancellor of the prestigious Visva Bharati University on the eve of Republic Day be withdrawn because of a case of sexual harassment pending against him.
Vice-Chancellor Sushanta Duttagupta has denied the charge, saying there is a malicious campaign against him by a section of disgruntled university employees.
The governing body of the Centre set up a committee of enquiry in March, 2004 on instructions of Mr Duttagupta himself. In September that year, the committee exonerated Mr Duttagupta of the charge of sexual harassment. But the West Bengal Commission for Women persisted and finally in March 2005, the then minister in charge of science and technology, Mr Kapil Sibal, constituted another committee to look into the complaint of sexual harassment. On March 30, that committee confirmed the charge of sexual harassment.
In 2004, a professor at the SN Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, of which Professor Duttagupta was director, accused him of sexual harassment, a charge confirmed in March 2005 by a committee set up by the Science and Technology Ministry.
"The committee, considering the report as a whole and not separately in parts, is convinced that the complaint is a case of sexual harassment," the report said.
Now a Padma Shri for him has caused outrage.
"When steps are being taken for the security of women, it is shocking that a man who has committed an offence against a woman is being awarded the Padma Shri," Sunanda Mukherjee, chairperson of the West Bengal Commission for Women, said.
The state women's panel has written to the President, the Prime Minister who is also Chancellor of the university, chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the National Commission for Women. "We are shocked to know that the name of Professor Sushanta Duttagupta has been declared for the Padma Shri, completely overlooking the history of his sexual harassment of a woman colleague," says the letter, which also demands that the honour be withdrawn and Professor Duttagupta be removed from his post.
"It is a desecration of the holiest place for Tagore acolytes. I hope the Chancellor and Visitor would take note of this problem," Visva Bharati's former Vice-Chancellor, Professor Rajat Kanta Ray, said.
Professor Duttagupta is dismissive. "I think it's a malicious, motivated, defamatory campaign against me by some people in Visva Bharati," he said.
"If there was something, somebody would have said, look, there is a black mark against this man. I have not seen. Even for the Padma award, there was an inquiry in my office from the intelligence branch," the Vice-Chancellor said.
There have been rumblings in academic circles against Professor Duttagupta in the past. But the letter from the West Bengal Commission for Women could force authorities to sit up and take notice.