"Without an apology, Prof Anindya Sen can't enter premises" AUSU; "Legal Cell looking at it," VC

A post on Lord Ram has got the assistant professor department of English Assam University Silchar, Anindya Sen in trouble. On August 5, 2020, the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi did, ‘Bhoomi Pujan’ of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, professor Sen uploaded a Facebook post on his own wall which some alleged to be objectionable.

The public post uploaded by Professor Anindya Sen reads:
She: And all this drama for a man who threw out his wife.
Me: Ya. Abandoned his wife. Right.
She: In fear of what ‘people’ would say.
Me: Oh! You mean Sriramchandra! I was thinking of you know who!

The post is still there on his Facebook wall with more than 650 comments. Many hurled abuses, few debated with facts and there were some defending him by countering the trolls. An FIR was filed by student and ABVP member, Rohit Chanda and a case has been registered against professor Sen.

“Investigation is going, we have analysed the Facebook post and looking into the matter. We have also got to know that he is out of the station,” said Bhanwal Lal Meena, SP, Cachar.

Professor Sen was trolled heavily on social media platform and few of his older posts got reshared too. One of the posts that garnered a lot of attention reads, “Aao Bhai Vidyarthi Pite.” Professor Sen had uploaded that on January 9 post the alleged attack in Jamia Milia Islamia at the backdrop.

A memorandum has been submitted to the Assam University’s Vice-Chancellor by a group of students demanding professor Sen’s suspension for allegedly plotting an attack on students. Many students have even complained to the registrar about Sen’s post on Lord Ram.

“We have sent all the details to the legal cell at the university and they will look into the matter,” said Vice-Chancellor, DC Nath.

Professor Sen has been allegedly getting a lot of death threats. When asked if there is a special security arrangement for the professor, the VC replied, “If he is on the University premises, his security is our responsibility and we will take all necessary measures. But if he is somewhere else, he has to manage it by himself.”

The post has irked Assam University Students’ Union too. Biswarup Bhattacharjee, president of the Union said, “Our stand is clear, unless he apologizes he can’t enter the University premises. We have informed the same to the authority also.” said Bhattacharjee.

He added, “The Students’ Union of Assam University is everyone’s union. We feel professor Sen’s post has hurt the sentiment of many students and that is why he must apologise. At the same time, if the authority allows him to enter the University without consulting with the AUSU and something unfortunate happens, it will be the authority’s responsibility.”

After the FIR was lodged on August 8, Sen spoke with Barak Bulletin. He had said, “I had no intention of insulting Shri Ram Chandra. There are various versions of Ramanaya and in many of them, it is clearly mentioned that Shri Ram Chandra had abandoned his wife at Valmiki’s Ashram. For this act, Shri Ram Chandra has been criticised by many and the same has been chronicled too. I had just shared that chronicled piece of criticism. If by doing that, I have unknowingly hurt any religious sentiments then I would like to express my regrets for the same.”

One of the first complainants against Sen, Rohit Chanda says he has faith in the judiciary and believes the law of the land will ensure justice is being served. “Just after the FIR, we saw another post shared by professor Sen which read, Aao Bhai Vidyarthi Pite. Being a teacher if someone calls for an assault on students we can assess his mentality,” said Chanda.

He added, “As a responsible-national who believes in nationalism, I just did my duty by filing an FIR.”

If sources are to be believed, as many as four FIRs have been lodged against professor Sen and there are non-bailable charges against him. How the Police investigate the matter and what the court decides, remains to be seen.