DU professor slapped by DUSU leader for ‘smirking’ at her, panel to probe incident | 10 points

Deepika Jha admitted to slapping the professor and said that she did so after the professor allegedly verbally abused her, “stared” and “smirked” at her.

In a shocking incident, a professor of Delhi University’s Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar College was allegedly slapped by Deepika Jha, joint secretary Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) and an ABVP member. The incident happened on Thursday during a disciplinary committee meeting in the presence of Delhi police personnel. The professor in the center of the controversy was the convener of the committee.

The professor, Sujit Kumar, contested Deepika Jha’s version of the incident and said that the ABVP members barged into the disciplinary meeting uninvited. (HT_Print)

The incident has sparked a huge outrage among the student organisations and teachers and a six-member inquiry committee has been formed to probe the incident and submit a report in two weeks.

Here’s all you need to know about the incident:

• Deepika Jha, DUSU’s joint secretary, allegedly slapped Sujit Kumar, a professor of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar College during a disciplinary committee meeting in the presence of Delhi police personnel and some other unidentified people, a purported video of which has gone viral on social media.
• In the video, Deepika appears to slap the professor who is seated next to her, following which, she is immediately pulled away by a female cop and seated at a distance. As the professor gets up from the couch after this, he is seen being pushed back by an unidentified person as a heated exchange of words seemingly takes place. HT.com could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
• Admitting to slapping the professor, Deepika told Hindustan Times that she did so after the professor allegedly verbally abused her, “staring” at her and “smirking”, however she added that she should not have done so.
• “I told him that I saw him smoking in public and that does not leave a good impression on students, he verbally abused me. He had also been staring at me and smirking, even after I had told him that I was not comfortable. When he verbally abused me, I slapped him which I should not have done,” Deepika told HT.
• While it is not yet completely clear what led to the incident, it happened during a meeting of the college’s disciplinary committee regarding a recent incident of violence in the college involving ABVP members, who allegedly assaulted other members, according to the Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF).
• Kumar contested Deepika’s version of the incident and said that the ABVP members barged into the disciplinary meeting uninvited. He also said that while their college students do not vote for DUSU, they have a college student council in which three posts were won by ABVP members and the president’s post was won by a NSUI member, who was allegedly assaulted by some ABVP members about a month ago. Thos e
• He added that he suspended three students affiliated with ABVP till September 30 after he saw a video of the assault, however, the violence did not stop there. He said that one of the suspended students beat up the NSUI student again on Wednesday in front of him.
• Kumar also said that he was forced to resign from the convener post by ABVP members on Thursday because he did not want to “get beaten up”. “Now on Thursday, we were having a meeting and also a Diwali celebration and lunch when about 50-60 ABVP students barged into the college uninvited and were trying to create a ruckus. I called the police but DUSU president Aryan Maan and DUSU joint secretary Deepika Jha got inside the principal office and forced me to write a resignation from the convenor post, which I did because I did not want to get beaten up,” he said, adding that after this, the alleged slapping incident happened.
• A six-member inquiry committee has now been formed by the Delhi University to probe the incident, which will be chaired by Department of Zoology’s Professor Neeta Sehgal and is expected to present a factual report in two weeks on directions of Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh.
• Several student and teacher organisations have condemned the incident and called for strict action.

(With inputs from Aheli Das)