MANUU in the thick of sexual harassment controversy, accused of suppressing ICC report, and not implementing recommendations

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The Maulana Azad National Urdu University, a central university based in Hyderabad, is currently embroiled in a serious controversy of sexual harassment and suppression of facts, with the complainant approaching the High Court seeking justice.

Sources from the university informed that a senior faculty member from the Islamic Studies department is accused of sexual misconduct, which subjected the alleged victim to years of mental trauma and agony until she broke and lodged a complaint.

The Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) is learnt to have submitted its report confirming the harassment; yet, the university, instead of taking action against the faculty member, appointed a retired judge as an enquiry officer to probe the issue further. This goes against the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) under which the ICC is constituted.

According to sources close to the complainant, the sordid saga running into several years involved grooming, psychological manipulation, gaslighting, coercion, isolation, and forced sexual acts.

The university refused to share the copy of the ICC report with the complainant, and the latter’s letters to the Department of Higher Education and the Ministry of Women and Child Development reportedly have not yielded any action.

Eventually, the woman filed a writ petition in the High Court, seeking suspension of the second enquiry instituted by the university. The court, through an interim order on August 20, 2026, had kept the enquiry proceedings by the university suspended up to September 1, 2026, and extended it to October 14, 2026, at the next hearing, giving time for the university to file counter.

The writ petition mentioned that the complainant, who was an Assistant Professor at the university, lodged the complaint on January 23, 2026, with the ICC alleging sexual harassment. The ICC submitted its enquiry report along with recommendations in April, 2026. However, the complainant was neither furnished with a copy of the enquiry report nor informed of the outcome of the proceedings.