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The Himachal Pradesh government on Saturday (Jan 3, 2016) suspended an assistant professor at a government college in Dharamsala following allegations of sexual harassment linked to the death of a 19-year-old Dalit student in December 2025.
On January 1, the police registered cases against a professor and three female students of a government college on charges of looting and voluntarily causing hurt to the victim.
The state government has constituted a four-member committee, headed by Additional Director of Higher Education Harish Kumar, to ascertain the facts and conduct a preliminary inquiry into the death of the student. The probe will look into all aspects, including alleged sexual harassment by the professor and caste abuse, as ordered by Director of Education Amarjeet Sharma.
The accused Ashok Kumar, an assistant professor of geography, has been immediately suspended pending the outcome of the investigation, the order said. It further read, “During the period of suspension, Ashok Kumar’s headquarters will be at the Directorate of Higher Education, Shimla and he will not leave the headquarters without prior permission from higher authorities.”
“The girl was beaten, molested”
The commission will submit a comprehensive report within three days after examining all aspects of the alleged harassment, sexual assault, rugby and caste comments by college teachers and students.
Speaking to mediapersons at Kandaghat in Solan, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said strict action would be taken against all those involved.
The victim died at a hospital in Punjab, Ludhiana on 26 December 2025. Her father alleged that she was beaten and intimidated by three students on 18 September 2025 and that Professor Ashok Kumar engaged in obscene acts with her. After these incidents, the girl was severely traumatized and became seriously ill. She was treated in several hospitals before she died in hospital.
The police registered a First Information Report (FIR) under sections 75 (sexual harassment), 115 (2) (voluntarily causing bodily harm), 3 (5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and under section 3 of the Himachal Pradesh Educational Institutions (Prohibition) Ragging Against Act, 2009.
Help for those in distress is available through the government’s mental health initiative Tele MANAS on the toll-free number 14416.
Published – 03 Jan 2026 21:16 IST
