Jaipur / Rajasthan University files FIR after women teachers complain of obscene calls

The University of Rajasthan on Tuesday filed an FIR regarding obscene calls and rape threats to its women faculty.

The university has details of 15 teachers who have received such calls, but many more cases could come to light, the university officials said.

Officiating chief proctor Rameshwar Jat said the university filed the FIR after it had got written complaints from six teachers.

The university has details about another seven teachers who have not come forward.

Several teachers have been receiving phone calls through internet for almost a month but most of them did not report to the university authorities or the police. Only two of them filed individual police complaints, one at the Gandhinagar police station on Tuesday and another at the Mahesh Nagar police station on July 3.

Alpana Kateja, principal of Maharani College, said there could be many teachers who have received such calls but many are keeping quiet fearing disgrace.

Kateja said some teachers had also received parcels with obscene messages written on them. The callers have also passed objectionable remarks against the minor daughter of a teacher. “This is a very serious issue. This means that the callers could be stalking the teachers or their wards,” she said.

Kateja has given a memorandum to the university vice chancellor, RK Kothari and Jaipur commissioner Anand Srivastava signed by 65 teachers, asking for quick action in the case.

Assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Sodala Circle, Nawab Khan said a complaint has been filed against the unknown accused under various sections of the IT Act and under Section 354 (d) of the CRPC.

“The calls were being made over the internet and till we get the IP address, we will not be able to trace the accused,” he said.

Gandhinagar SHO Nemi Chand said that the callers are using an online application that allows calls to be made by using numbers of different countries. “This application can be downloaded on phones or laptops to make calls. We are trying to identify the source of the calls,” he said.

A teacher who had received a call, said on the condition of anonymity that the caller had first spoken about transferring money in her account. When she asked who he was, he made obscene comments and even threatened her with rape.

The teacher, who lives in a working women’s hostel, said that many other hostel inmates also acknowledged that they had received such calls.

Meanwhile, the university administration on Monday removed photos, phone numbers and addresses of women faculty from its website. The university had provided details for convenience of the students, but these have been taken down now. There are around 230 women teachers in 35 departments of the university.

Jaipur commissioner of police Anand Srivastava said the police are trying to track the identity of the caller. He said from the details given by Kateja, it seemed that there was only one person involved, who was a local.

Kateja, who met Srivastava on Tuesday, said the commissioner had sought several minute details regarding the incident and had assured her of quick action.

DCP (East) Rahul Jain said so far a total of two FIRS from seven complainants have been filed in Gandhinagar police station and one FIR has been filed in Mahesh Nagar police station.