AGRA, March 26 -- A court in Hathras has acquitted a degree college professor accused of sexually harassing and exploiting over a dozen female students and other women, citing lack of evidence. Additional district judge (fast track court-I) Mahendra Kumar Rawat on Tuesday (March 24) acquitted Rajneesh Kumar of charges under sections 376 (rape), 376C (sexual intercourse by a person in authority) and 354A (sexual harassment) of the IPC, and Section 67 of the Information Technology (IT) Act. The case also raises concern over the police investigation as the court held that the charges could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt and acquitted the accused for lack of sufficient evidence. It also observed that the electronic material presented during the trial could not be conclusively verified and the possibility of it being fabricated could not be ruled out. The accused professor was already out on bail after being arrested on April 19, 2025 from Prayagraj. The case stemmed from an FIR lodged in March 2025 after the Uttar Pradesh State Women Commission forwarded an anonymous complaint addressed to the Prime Minister, chief minister and other authorities. The complaint included explicit photographs allegedly showing the professor behaving inappropriately with students. The court cited the Supreme Court's ruling in Arjun Panditrao Khotkar vs Kailash Kushanrao Gorantyal (2020), which mandates compliance with Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, for the admissibility of electronic records. Nine witnesses were examined during the trial, including three complainants, doctors and police personnel. The women did not support the prosecution's case in court. The accused, who was arrested in April 2025 from Prayagraj and later released on bail, denied the charges and termed the case a result of groupism and politics in the college. Hathras superintendent of police Chiranjeev Nath Sinha said the police were awaiting the judgment copy and would decide on filing an appeal after legal consultation. Kumar, a resident of Javra village in Mathura district's Mant tehsil, joined Bagla College in Hathras as a lecturer in 2001 and became the head of the geography department in 2016. In July 2024, he was appointed as the college's chief proctor....