Sunday, April 15, 2018

College suspends student for speech on Kathua murder

Vishnu.Swaroop@timesgroup.com 15.04.2018

Coimbatore: A day after a first year student of the Government Law College here was suspended on the grounds of inciting religious and gender differences on the campus, students of the college on Saturday said there discontent was brewing due to the college authorities’ oppressive methods. R Priya, a first year student, who was suspended on Friday, said that she had given an extempore speech about the recent rape and murder of an eight-year-old Kashmiri girl as part of her English course work, which was misconstrued.

“On Friday, our English teacher asked us to speak on a topic of interest. I chose the minor girl’s murder and said such things happen because the society objectifies women,” Priya told TOI.

“When I was speaking, a few boys from the class went out and stood near the twowheeler parking lot. Professor R Ammu, who came that way, spoke with them and came to the class. She reprimanded me for being a supporter of a students’ outfit. She also reprimanded the English teacher for organising the speech. She then took the students to the principal’s room,” said Priya. She added that she was suspended without being asked for an explanation.

The official communication said Priya had incited gender and religious differences. “She also stopped professor R Ammu, who had gone to investigate the matter, from doing her duty and behaved in athreatening manner,” it said.

Priya was suspended after about 20 students filed a written complaint, college principal KS Gopalakrishnan told TOI.

The suspension order added, “Students, in their complaint, had said Priya had been forcing them to boycott classes to protest against the government and has been posting harsh messages in WhatsApp against those who don’t listen to her. On April 13, she had called some of her classmates male chauvinists and had spoken in a way as to incite religious differences. She had also threatened professor Ammu when she had gone to inquire about her actions,” it said. “It is being ordered that she is suspended from 13.4.2018,” the communication said. It added that Priya cannot enter the college premises without the principal’s permission.

Priya said she was a supporter of the left-leaning student outfit Revolutionary Students’ Front and had participated in the outfit’s activities. “Though I have participated in the outfit’s activities only outside the college, the authorities seem to have acted in undue fear that I would bring the activities into the classroom,” she said.

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