Supreme Court says time-barred sexual harassment complaint must ‘haunt’ Vice-Chancellor forever

Confirming that a sexual harassment complaint filed by a faculty member against Dr. Nirmal Kanti Chakrabarti, who was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Kolkata’s West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS) in 2019, was time-barred, the Supreme Court said it should nevertheless “haunt” him forever.

Noting that a “wrong” may be forgiven but not forgotten, the court directed Mr. Chakrabarti to make its judgment, pronounced on Friday, a part of his resume personally.

In a novel approach, a Bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and P.B. Varale observed, “It is advisable to forgive the wrongdoer, but not to forget the wrongdoing.”

“The wrong which has been committed against the appellant [faculty member] may not be investigated on technical grounds, but it must not be forgotten,” Justice Mithal, who authored the verdict, wrote. The appellant was represented by senior advocate Meenakshi Arora and advocate Rishab Ahmed Chowdhury.

“In this view of the matter, we direct that the incidents of alleged sexual harassment on part of respondent no.1 [Chakrabarti] may be forgiven but allowed to haunt the wrongdoer forever. Thus, it is directed that this judgment shall be made part of the resume of respondent no.1, compliance of which shall be strictly ensured by him personally,” the court said.

The judgment concluded that a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court had committed no error of law in restoring the decision of the Local Complaint Committee (LCC) that the complaint of the faculty member was time-barred and liable to be dismissed.

The LCC had rejected the complaint on a finding that the last alleged incident of sexual harassment occurred in April 2023. The complaint was filed on December 26, 2023, which was not only beyond the prescribed limitation period of three months but also beyond the extendable period of six months.

Section 9 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 provides that an aggrieved woman may make a complaint, in writing, of sexual harassment at the workplace to the Local Committee within three months from the date of the incident, and in the case of a series of incidents, within three months from the date of the last incident.

The second proviso to Section 9 states that the LCC may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, extend the time for making the complaint by another three months.