Amidst allegations of its principal trying to protect the accused, HRD ministry today refused to intervene in the molestation row at St Stephen's College, saying such issues are to be handled by the institution's Internal Complaints Committee as per Supreme Court guidelines.


Ministry officials, however, said that the college has been asked to "expedite its probe to ensure justice is done".


"As per the Supreme Court's guidelines, every institution is supposed to have an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) to deal with complaints of sexual harassment. The issue at St Stephen's has to be handled by the committee," officials in the HRD ministry said.


A research scholar at St Stephen's had approached police on June 19 alleging that she was molested by Satish Kumar, a professor in the college's Chemistry department.