Chinnappan Baskar

Introduction

Chinnappan Baskar is an associate professor who headed the chemistry department at the Central University of Kashmir until October 2026, when student protests over allegations that he had sexually harassed a woman student led the university to strip him of his administrative and teaching duties pending an internal inquiry. The vice-chancellor ordered him attached to the dean of academic affairs’ office — an administrative holding pattern away from the classroom — while a separate inquiry committee was constituted alongside the institution’s internal complaints committee. The allegations against him remain unproven, and no formal written complaint had even been filed when the removal was ordered.

Background Information

Baskar led the chemistry department at the Central University of Kashmir (CUK), whose Nunar campus sits in Ganderbal district. The university was formally notified of the incident on a Thursday in October 2026, when protests erupted on the Nunar campus after a woman student accused Baskar of using vulgar language and behaving inappropriately. Registrar Nisar Ahmad Mir said vice-chancellor A Ravinder Nath ordered the immediate removal of the faculty member from administrative and teaching duties pending the probe, and that assistant professor Prashant Kumar Gupta had been appointed as the new department coordinator in Baskar’s place.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations under inquiry. No formal written complaint was pending when Baskar was removed from his duties, and the accusations — vulgar language and inappropriate behaviour toward a woman student — are unproven; the removal is a precautionary administrative action pending investigation.

The university’s account of why it acted is unusually explicit about how thin the formal record was. “Though a formal written complaint from the student is still pending, the vice-chancellor has directed the immediate attachment of the teacher upon learning of the protests,” Registrar Nisar Ahmad Mir said. “Apart from the ICC, we are setting up a separate inquiry committee. If the allegations are proven, full disciplinary action will follow according to sexual harassment rules.” A university spokesperson separately confirmed that police were informed about the situation.

Mir framed the complaint within a broader pattern: “There are allegations that he used abusive language in class. Harassment often begins with basic behaviour like staring.” He said he had urged students to report such instances to the internal complaints committee. The registrar’s remarks positioned the chemistry department case not as an isolated accusation but as the trigger for a wider warning to students about reporting harassment early. Attempts by the Hindustan Times to contact Baskar by phone proved futile, and no public response from him appears in the available record.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The immediate consequence was the protest itself — students at the Nunar campus disrupting ordinary operations until the university acted — followed by the administrative demotion of a department head to the dean’s office and the appointment of a coordinator in his place. The speed of the response, before any written complaint was filed, signalled that the university judged the campus unrest itself sufficient grounds to remove Baskar from contact with students while the inquiry runs. The case also became part of a string of campus harassment stories the national press was tracking that week, giving the Ganderbal episode visibility well beyond the valley.

Current Status

Baskar remains attached to the dean of academic affairs’ office, removed from all administrative and teaching duties in the chemistry department, while both the internal complaints committee and a newly constituted inquiry committee examine the allegations. Prashant Kumar Gupta runs the department as coordinator. No findings have been announced, no formal written complaint from the student had been filed as of the university’s public account, and no criminal case arising from the incident appears in the available record — the university has said only that police were informed.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Whatever the inquiry concludes, Baskar’s position has already changed: the department headship he held is occupied by a coordinator, his classroom duties are gone, and his name is attached to a public harassment inquiry at his own university. The vice-chancellor’s statement that full disciplinary action will follow if the allegations are proven leaves the endgame open, but the intermediate consequence — a professor attached to an office with no students and no department, in place since October 2026 — is itself a career-altering outcome for an accusation that has not yet been adjudicated.

Sources

• Hindustan Times, “Central University of Kashmir chemistry HoD faces sexual harassment probe,” October 13, 2026 — source