Kanak Sarkar, a teacher of international relations at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University (JU) got real limelight for his sexist comments being posted on facebook and justified them using Freedom of Expression.
This week on a Monday morning, his post triggered an uproar by saying “Are you willing to buy broken seal while purchasing a Bottle of Cold drinks or a packet of biscuit?” comparing a “virgin girl” to “sealed bottle or sealed packet” in a Facebook post. He also talked about how the boys remain fooled by not knowing ‘Virgin girl as a wife.
The post was deleted but later, after few hours he posted “Supreme Court has repealed Section 66A of Information Technology Act and given freedom of expression in social media,” socially justifying his act.
After a while, both the posts were removed by the professor. JU has always been a seedbed of student politics; the students got agitated and demanded a strict action against the professor.In the second post the professor said, “I have not written anything against any person, individual or anybody without any evidence of proof of any reference. I am doing social research and writing for the good and wellbeing of Society.”
“It’s everybody’s right to express his/her thoughts. I have given many posts for and in favour of women. Can verify them in my Timeline,” he added and even drew references to writer Taslima Nasreen and poet Srijato who drew criticism for their writings in the past.
The girls belonging to JU University took the actions of the professor strongly. Somashree Choudhury, a final-year student of international relations and president of the JU Arts Faculty Students’ Union said, “Professor Sarkar had always been known for posting objectionable topics on social media. He even makes objectionable remarks during conversation. People chose to ignore him all these years but now he has crossed the limit. We must do something. Teachers are also agitated,”