A visiting professor from India accused of sexual misbehaviour has pleaded 'not guilty'.
Debasis Chaudhuri, 41-year-old professor of computer science at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, sat in the courtroom before his name was called with his elbows on his knees and his head resting on cupped hands.
When his name was announced at the trial last week, a prosecutor read the charges against Chaudhuri - attempted first degree sexual assault, third degree sexual assault and second-degree false imprisonment, a media report said.
Chaudhuri answered "yes" in response to the court's question of whether he understood the charges brought against
him, Daily Nebraskan reported.
The University of Nebraska had relieved Chaudhuri, who was on a nine-month teaching stint with the university since August and was appointed to teach an undergraduate computer science class, of his duties once the police arrested him last month and brought up the charges.
Chaudhuri, who has a wife and child in India, was arrested at his home in Lincoln on October 12 and charged with first-degree sexual assault of a university student.
The assault allegedly occurred on October 9 in Chaudhuri's Fergusan Hall office when she had gone there to discuss her
grades.
The student told the police that Chaudhuri pinned her to a chair, fondled her and forced her to give her phone number.
The victim also said she thought she was going to be raped, the newspaper reported.
According to police reports, the student's cell phone bill indicated Chaudhuri called her up 11 times on the day of the assault.
The professor claimed he had lost his mind for a few moments because of the woman's "inappropriate dress."
The case has been posted for trial on January 20. If convicted of the main charge of first-degree sexual assault, Chaudhuri could face up to 20 years in prison, a fine of $ 25,000 and payment of restitution to the victim.
If convicted of third-degree sexual assault, he could face a minimum of one year in prison and a fine of $ 1,000 or a combination of the two.
For the second-degree false imprisonment charge, Chaudhuri could face up to one year in prison, up to $ 1,000
in fine and be ordered to pay restitution to the victim.
Prior to the incident, some of Chaudhuri's students were planning to file a complaint against him because his heavy
accent made lectures difficult, the paper said.
He came to the university to participate in research with other professors with whom he shared a common interest in
the field of image processing.
