A University in Kolkata has allegedly asked a former professor to pay Rs 99 crore compensation after the professor was sacked based on a complaint from a student's parent against her private Instagram photographs.
St.Xavier's University in Kolkata charged that the former professor has caused irreparable damage to the Institution. The 30-year-old professor was allegedly forced to resign last year after a parent complained to the University that he found his son checking the professor's pictures in swimsuit which were reportedly posted on her Instagram account. The parent complained he found his son, an undergraduate student, looking at the assistant professor’s picture in which she “posed in a sexually explicit way, causing deliberate public exposure,”, the Hindustan Times reported.
The publication quoting the professor reported that the assistant professor appeared before a disciplinary committee in October 2021 where the complaint letter was read out and she was asked to resign citing personal reasons. “I was not issued any show cause notice. Nor I was given any time to respond. They did not even show me the complaint letter,” the professor was quoted saying.
The Quint reported that Felix Raj, V-C of the University in response to the legal notice sent by the complainant stated legal notice sent to the university by the complainant was 'ill-motivated' and contained 'fabricated allegations.' The response further asked for an 'unconditional apology' from the professor and 'a compensation of Rs 99 crore for damaging the University's reputation.'
The woman academic joined the University in August last year and was allegedly asked to resign two months later based on the complaint of a student's guardian. An inquiry committee was constituted based on the complaint. The Quint quoted the assistant professor saying, “I was repeatedly shamed by the members of the meeting for continuously uploading ‘provocative’ and ‘inappropriate’ photos, which ‘might corrupt the minds of young men’.”
