The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) of Delhi has decided to terminate the services of Professor Swaran Singh of the School of International Studies over allegations of sexual misconduct involving a Japanese Embassy official. The decision was taken after the findings of an investigation conducted by the university’s internal complaints committee (ICC), which were later presented at the JNU executive council meeting on Wednesday this week. This decision comes when Singh is a year away from his retirement.

The council also took disciplinary action against three other faculty members, based on the reports from the ICC investigations. Two were penalised with the withholding of three annual increments each, and one was found guilty of alleged inappropriate behaviour under a minor offence and was later directed to undergo gender-sensitisation training. The three faculty members come from the University’s Centre for Historical Studies, School of Physical Sciences and the Sanskrit Centre, respectively.

Dr. Swaran Singh’s Academic Career

Dr Swaran Singh was a faculty member at the Centre for International Politics Organisation and Discernment (CIPOD), under the School of International Relations. The officials of the university learned about the complaint against the Professor ‘around May last year’.

Singh is a senior scholar in international relations and has three decades of experience in academia. He holds an MA in political science from the University of Delhi and an MPhil and PhD in international studies from JNU. He also holds a post-doctoral diploma in conflict resolution from Uppsala University in Sweden.