By Matters India Reporter
Kolkata, Aug 19, 2022: Jesuit-managed St Xavier’s University in Kolkata has denied allegations that it has forced a teacher to resign.
“It may kindly be specifically noted that St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata, has not forced any teacher to resign. And it is most humiliating to even assume that St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata, would force any teacher to resign,” says press note from Jesuit Father Xavier Raj, vice chancellor of the university.
He was responding to media reports and social media posts that alleged the university officials and some teachers had forced the resignation of a female teacher.
The press note regretted that the reports “unilaterally” mentioned the university’s name without revealing the teacher’s identity.
“Needless to mention which you yourself will agree and appreciate that the University has believed and continues to believe in preserving and maintaining the dignity and honor of all its teachers, staff members and students and others connected with it, past and present.”
It further added that the university respects the privacy of each of them and therefore has made all possible efforts that there is no such breach of privacy.
The vice chancellor’s note then sought people’s cooperation to “discontinue such publications so that the University’s name is not maligned.”
Earlier, a former assistant professor of English in the university alleged that authorities forced her to quit on the charges of posting her photos on Instagram that it says were ‘objectionable’ and ‘inappropriate.’
The university had also alleged that the pictures has ‘besmirched” its reputation.
The professor has further alleged that the process of sacking her amounted to sexual harassment and character assassination.
The teacher is a former student of the university and holds doctorates from two European universities.
The university maintains that the teacher resigned voluntarily.
She joined the university on August 9, 2021. On October 7, 2021, she reportedly received a call from the vice-chancellor’s office asking her to be present for a meeting with him the same day.
She was reportedly taken to a conference room where seven persons were present. She knew only three, including Father Raj. The four others were women, members of an ’emergency committee’ formed by the university.
The teacher’s complaint at Purba Jadavpur police station on October 24, 2021, said the vice chancellor told her that the university had received a written complaint from the father of a first year student, alleging that he had seen his son looking at the teacher’s Instagram pictures which were ‘objectionable’ and ‘bordered on nudity.’
A paper with thumbnails of some photographs printed on them was circulated among those present and the teacher was asked to confirm if they were pictures, he police complaint said.
She found them to be her pictures, although she was not told how they had been obtained or whether those were the same pictures the student was found looking.
Her complaint explained that she had posted as an instagram story her two pictures in a blue swimsuit taken in her room. It was in June 2021, nearly two months before she joined the university.
She also asserted the photo could not be still accessible since an Instagram Story, by default, is live for only 24 hours. Her Instagram profile is ‘private’ and not ‘public,’ which means only those she accepted as followers could view her posts and pictures.
“Those two pictures could not have been viewed by the said student in October 2021,” her complaint asserted.
She also alleged alleged ‘suspected hacking’ of her social media profile and ‘sexual harassment.’
According to her police complaint, during the meeting, the vice chancellor remarked that the teacher could be jailed if the complainant lodged a first information report. He also asked her if her parents approved of her Instagram posts.
The following day, the teacher submitted a letter of apology for offending members of university by her social media posts.
When she handed over the letter the vice chancellor advised her to resign because her images had reportedly become ‘viral’ in the student community. The committee had unanimously recommended her removal, he told the teacher, according to the police complaint.
The vice chancellor offered two options – resign voluntarily or the university terminates her service.
After the meeting, the teacher tested Covid-19 positive and on recovery she resigned on October 25, 2021.
Her resignation letter said that the vice chancellor had not explained how the photographs were accessed.
“Instead, arbitrary and primitive standards of ‘morality’ have been used to shame and objectify my photographs and my body…” she wrote.
The vice chancellor replied November 1 denying the university had conducted any ‘trial.’ Nor had there been any criminal intimidation from their side, he asserted.
“You decided to resign…with immediate effect,” he wrote.
Allegations were ‘false, frivolous, fabricated,’ the university said.
It then sought an unconditional apology from the teacher and a compensation of 990 million for ‘causing immense and irreparable damage’ to the university’s ‘good name, fame and goodwill.’
Meanwhile, the case was transferred to the Techno City police station. On February 24, an FIR was finally lodged on the basis of the teacher’s complaint, against unknown persons.