Teacher force to resign over bikini photos

A leading private university in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) has been embroiled in an ugly controversy in recent months.

A former assistant professor of the St Xavier’s University has told the BBC that she was forced to quit her job for sharing her photographs in a bikini on Instagram – a charge the university has denied.

The 31-year-old, who requested not to be named, has accused the university officials of “sexual harassment” and says that she “was bullied, browbeaten, and subjected to moral policing”.

She has lodged a police complaint and sent a legal notice to the university, which has responded by accusing her of defamation and demanded 990m rupees ($12.4m; £10.5) in compensation.

Interrogation Room

The assistant professor says she joined the faculty on 9 August 2021 to teach English to undergraduate and postgraduate classes.

Two months later, she was summoned to the vice-chancellor’s office for a meeting.

She was “led into an interrogation room” where she was questioned by a committee comprising Vice-Chancellor Felix Raj, Registrar Ashish Mitra and five women.

She was informed that there had been a complaint against her from the father of a first-year undergrad male student.

“The vice-chancellor said this parent had found his son looking at my photographs on Instagram where I was wearing just my undergarments. He said they were sexually explicit and requested the university to save his son from such vulgarity.”

A piece of paper was circulated amongst the members of the board with “five-six photographs” and she was asked to confirm that they were hers.

 

Source: BBC