Team Herald
PANJIM: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has complained that a lecturer is promoting socially hateful thoughts about a particular religion, community and group of people.
Prabha Naik ABVP secretary, Konkan unit has complained to VM Salgaocar College of Law, stating that Shilpa Singh, an assistant professor of Political Science is promoting socially hateful thoughts about a particular religion.
The ABVP has asked the college to take action within 24 hours, failing which the parishad has threatened to launch a severe agitation against the institution. However, in a written reply to ABVP, the college authorities said “action is not possible”.
However, the college has asked Shilpa Singh to explain her method and material of teaching.
Singh, 31, who has been given time to respond, told a national paper, “This is muzzling academic freedom. For me, doing humanities is to shoulder some social responsibilities, especially being a woman. If you curtail this freedom, it’s equivalent to me dying.”
However, Singh said ABVP members verbally conveyed four topics which they found offensive.
“I was informed that they had issues with my teachings of Manusmriti and were not comfortable bringing Rohith Vemula, (Hyderabad university student who allegedly died by suicide), M M Kalburgi and (Narendra) Dabholkar (rationalists and activists who were murdered) into my teachings. They also had issues with a response to a particular query on beef that I seem to have shared.”
Confirming that the letter was sent, Naik said, “We have evidence. In her lectures, she was teaching many anti-religious things.”
Prof M R K Prasad, one of the three members of a grievance committee which will now hear Singh, said, “This is a law college and we have to follow rules. The professor has been given a copy of the letter and we will wait for her response. We do not know what has been said, and the context and the background of each thread. We will have to hear both sides before we come to a conclusion. The grievance committee is for students of this college. This is a third party and we do not appreciate this manner of complaint. In the letter, they have not expressed what was anti-religion.”
Since Monday, Singh has begun to record her online classes — as they now form “evidence of her style of teaching”.
