UDUPI: The Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) in Udupi suspended a professor after he allegedly called a student ‘Ajmal Kasab’, a Pakistani terrorist who was hanged in 2012 after being convicted in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case which took place in 2008.
A video of the professor making the remark during a class last week has gone viral on social media. In the video, the first year engineering student whom the professor called ‘Kasab’ can be heard raising serious objection and telling him that it is not at all acceptable. “Will you talk to your son like this? Will you call him by the name of a terrorist? How can you call me like that in front of so many people in the class,” the student tells the professor. The professor is heard telling “sorry dude” to which the student replies, “Sorry doesn’t change how you think, how you portray yourself”.
In a social media post, the student says that though the racist comment was not acceptable, he would however let it go as he believed that the professor did not mean it. ‘’It can be ignored this time,’’ he reportedly posted.
Acting swiftly, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) placed the professor under suspension and ordered an inquiry into the matter. In a communique, MAHE said that it does not condone such kind of behaviour and this isolated incident will be dealt with in accordance with the laid down policy of the institute.
Though there are no conclusive inputs throwing light on the background of this incident and why the professor made such a remark against a student, the incident reportedly happened in the classroom on the day of the anniversary of the November 26, 2008 terror attack in Mumbai. In the 49-second video that went viral, the student can be seen taking strong objection to the remark.
‘Campus must be place of harmony’
President of Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) of India, Udupi district, Afwan B Hoode condemned the incident and said that the campus should be a place to spread religious harmony and not bigotry.
“The mindset of the professor to spread hatred against a religion is worrying and causes damage to the foundation of the Constitution. This kind of attitude by a professor will further create fear in the minds of students from minority community,” he said.