New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh police have registered an FIR against a professor for mentioning in a class on historical perspectives on rape that mythological stories also held examples of rape.
Police filed the FIR against Jitendra Kumar โ an assistant professor in the department of forensic medicine at JN Medical College of Aligarh Muslim University โ on the basis of a complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party worker Nishit Sharma.
Sharma has alleged that the professor has “hurt religious sentiments” by allegedly “accusing gods in Indian mythology of rape,” Times of India has reported.
Kumar was booked under sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), among others of the Indian Penal Code, Indian Express has reported.
The university, meanwhile, suspended Kumar, issued a show-cause notice against him, released a statement of “strong condemnation” and also announced that there would be an inquiry into the matter.
#๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐๐ซ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ซ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง
๐https://t.co/6u6vdv9iOo@PIBHRD @dpradhanbjp @ProfTariqManso1 @PMOIndia @rashtrapatibhvn @EduMinOfIndia @ugc_india @AwasthiAwanishK @Vineet_K26 @ANI @AMUJournal @Drsubhassarkar @Annapurna4BJP pic.twitter.com/xsEf4mfYmb— Aligarh Muslim University (@AMUofficialPRO) April 6, 2022
Kumar has issued an “unconditional apology.”
On Tuesday, April 5, while teaching MBBS students, Kumar allegedly showed slides that illustrated that “rape existed since times immemorial”. Some of these slides in his presentation had examples from Indian mythology and showed gods.
In his apology letter to the AMU vice-chancellor, Kumar has said that he only sought to show that “rape has been a part of society”. He has stressed that he did not wish to hurt religious sentiments.
A significant volume of academic work exists on rape culture and instances of rape in mythology of various corners of the world, including Roman and Greek.
Featured image:ย Aligarh Muslim University. Photo: Facebook/Aligarh Muslim University
This article was first published on The Wire.