The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday directed a former Vice Chancellor (VC) of Laxmi Bai National Institute of Physical Education (LNIPE) to pay ₹35 lakh to a Yoga instructor who was sexually harassed by the VC.
Justice Milind Ramesh Phadke, while relying upon the findings of an Internal Complaints Committee, found that Dilip Kumar Dureha, who is now a professor at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), had subjected the Yoga instructor to sexual harassment.
“Respondent No.6 is directed to pay compensation to the tune of Rs.35 Lakhs towards loss of salary for two years, pain & suffering, loss of reputation and emotion distress forthwith,” the Court ordered.
The Court also held that the LNIPE, a central government institute, had not taken timely steps to provide justice to the complainant and had allowed its administration to be controlled by a person who was not even fit to be kept in service of any nature.
Accordingly, it directed the institute to pay her ₹1 lakh.
Further, the Court also held the police responsible for not taking any action on the complaint made by the Yoga instructor and waiting for three years to register a case, that too upon directions of the apex court. Thus, the State was directed to pay ₹5 lakh to her.
The Yoga instructor had alleged that Dureha in 2019 had touched her without her consent and also demanded sexual favours to suppress a complaint against her. It was also alleged that he would often call women officials to his room late in the evening.
Dureha had denied the allegations but the ICC in 2020 ruled that the charges against him stood proved. The Court noted that Dureha had nor challenged the observations and conclusion of the ICC.
“Thus, this Court is not required to go into further details with regard to the conclusions and findings arrived at by the said Committee and thus is accepting it to be true in toto,” it said.
The Yoga instructor approached the Court for directions to provide a safe environment at the workplace. Her counsel also sought action against Dureha, the institute as well as the police authorities.
In response, the LNIPE said that since Dureha was no longer an employee of the institute, no action can be taken against him by the institute. However, it was also submitted that the Central government had communicated about the case with BHU, Varanasi.
Advocate Yogesh Chaturvedi represented the Yoga instructor (petitioner).
Advocate MS Jadon represented the State.
Deputy Solicitor General of Indian Praveen Kumar Newaskar represented the Union of India.
Advocate Anil Sharma represented the LNIPE.
Advocate Siddharth Sharma represented Dureha and other private respondents.
[Read Judgment]