JU Correspondent :
The authorities of the Jahangirnagar University (JU) dismissed a teacher who was accused of sexually harassing a student promising her a faculty position at the university.
Mahmudur Rahman Joni, an assistant professor of the Public Health and Informatics department who is also an assistant proctor of JU, has been accused of sexual harassment and several academic irregularities.
The decision was made in a syndicate meeting of the university under the chairmanship of JU Vice Chancellor Prof Md Nurul Alam on Tuesday.
JU Registrar and also the Secretary of the Syndicate, the highest decision-making body of the university, Md Abu Hasan disclosed the matter to journalists at the office of the Vice-Chancellor on Tuesday night.
He said, “Mahmudur Rahman Joni was dismissed as per the recommendations of the probe body that was formed over the sexual harassment allegation.”
Earlier on November 21, 2022, an intimate picture of Mahmudur Rahman Joni and a female student leaked, who later secured a faculty position at the JU Public Health and Informatics department and currently, she is serving the department as a lecturer.
The controversy peaked after a leaked audio conversation between Joni and a female teacher candidate revealed that Joni forced the aspirant to abort, following an intimate relationship, promising her a faculty position at the university.
The JU administration initially formed a preliminary probe committee to investigate whether Joni used his position to commit such offenses.
The committee found Joni’s involvement in support of the allegation.
It also revealed that the teacher had given a favor by providing another female student ‘extra marks’, who was doing the thesis under his supervision.
Following the findings, JU stepped down Joni from his role as assistant proctor.
Meanwhile, leftist teachers and students launched a series of protest programmes on the campus demanding of firing the teacher Joni, alleging that he ‘lost’ his moral rights to continue his job as JU teacher.
On February 9, 2023, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad submitted a memorandum to the University Grants Commission (UGC) seeking action against Joni on the allegation of sexual harassment.
The UGC on March 3, 2023, asked the JU administration to inform it that action was taken against Joni.
Later, JU formed a committee to take final action against Joni following preliminary findings in support of the allegation.
Meanwhile, the protest, demanding the dismissal of Joni, sparked at its peak when a housewife was raped on the JU campus by a leader of Bangladesh Chhatra League and his associates by keeping her husband confined on February 3.
Joni was a student of the JU Environmental Sciences Department under the academic session 2006-07 (36th Batch) and former president of the JU unit Chhatra League.
