Sexual harassment at Garware college: Edu society top boss protected vice-principal?

When news of the resignation of Dr Gautam Bhong viceprincipal of the reputed Abasaheb Garware College surfaced earlier this month questions were raised on how Bhong had managed to stick around in the college for 28 years despite being accused of harassing women several timesDr Gautam BhongA midday investigation into the issue has revealed that Bhong may have had the backing of Ravindra Wanjarwadkar chairman of the governing council of Maharashtra Education Society MES which administers Garware collegeScandal gets murkier A student from the Maharashtra Education Societyrsquos night college had filed a police report against Bhong in March alleging that he had sexually misbehaved with a student File PicsHighly placed sources have told midday that Wanjarwadkar had backed Bhong on a couple of key occasions and let him keep his post in Garware college even when everyone else in the governing body had wanted him out following allegations of harassing students in the Societyrsquos night collegeDr Gautam Bhongrsquos cabin was sealed after he resigned as the viceprincipal earlier this month File PicThe source of this closeness between Bhong and Wanjarwadkar according to documents accessed by midday is the latterrsquos wife Shaila who finished her PhD in Business Economics under Bhongrsquos guidance two years ago While the Wanjarwadkars admitted to Bhong being Shailarsquos guide they denied any correlation between that and Bhongrsquos tenure as the college viceprincipalDocuments with midday show that Shaila had done her graduation and postgraduation in the commerce faculty but while pursuing her PhD she had approached Bhong to be her PhD guide despite Bhong being the dean of the mental moral and social science faculty of Savitribai Phule Pune UniversityEven though Bhongrsquos specialisation is in economics academics say Shaila could have definitely got an expert guide from the commerce faculty to complete her doctorate instead of getting one from another departmentThe principal of a reputed college in the city said ldquoThere is a separate Board of Studies BoS under the commerce faculty for candidates who want to pursue a doctorate in economics Hence it is not at all advisable to take the guidance of someone from outside the commerce faculty The research and review committee of the university can raise strong objections in such casesrdquoldquoForget about approaching any other college MES also has a separate Garware College of Commerce which has several PhD guidesrdquo he addedSole backerA highly placed source in Garware College said ldquoIn March 2014 when one of the students of our night college had lodged a police complaint against Bhong for sexually misbehaving with a female student all the other management members were of the opinion that Bhong should be asked to vacate his post But Wanjarwadkar protected himrdquoAnother highranking official told midday ldquoIt is an open secret that Wanjarwadkarrsquos wife had pursued PhD under the guidance of Bhong and that is why Wanjarwadkar was shielding the viceprincipal But considering the nature of Bhongrsquos offences he should have stopped this practice keeping the institutersquos image in mindrdquoBoth Shaila and Ravindra Wanjarwadkar admitted that she had completed her PhD under Bhongrsquos guidance When midday contacted Shaila she said she had completed the PhD under Bhong and handed over the phone to her husbandldquoI am not at all protecting Bhong You must understand that I strictly differentiate between administration and academics The two things my wifersquos PhD and sparing Bhong are not at all relatedrdquo said Ravindra WanjarwadkarAsked if he did not think his wife selecting a PhD guide who was the viceprincipal of a college under him was a conflict of interest Wanjarwadkar said ldquoThe university had allotted Bhong as my wifersquos PhDrdquoWhen midday asked him whether he was protecting Bhong Wanjarwadkar said ldquoSee I would be the last person to tolerate such nonsense I had given him strict warnings In fact it was I who had taken away the charge of the night college principal from himrdquomidday had reported on Sunday that Bhong had taken back his resignation on September 19 barely a week after tendering it He had also said that he was positive that he would be allowed to come back to the collegeWhen we told Wanjarwadkar about this he said ldquoBy accepting his resignation we had already relieved him from the post Hence reversing the decision is not in the managementrsquos handsrdquo