KASARGOD: Vice-Chancellor G Gopa Kumar had divested Prasad Pannian of the post for openly sympathising with Dalit PhD scholar Ganthoti Nagaraju who was arrested and imprisoned for allegedly breaking a glass.
In a Facebook post, Prasad, an associate professor, had said the issue should have been settled on the campus rather than criminalising the student for a minor misdemeanor. Gopa Kumar’s decision to suspend him on September 7 had attracted widespread condemnation.
Nagaraju, a PhD scholar in the Department of Linguistic, was arrested after registrar A Radhakrishnan Nair pressed criminal charged against him for breaking the pane of a fire alarm cabinet in hostel on July 7. He got bail after spending five days in prison.
Students said the glass was not worth more than `500 and the cost could have been recovered from his caution deposit of `2,000. They said the administration frame him for his political activism. Prasad was first among the teachers to publicly condemn the Nagaraju’s arrest.
“The judgment gives me immense happiness as it upholds the democratic values and right to freedom of expression particularly in public institutions,” said Prasad.