Four days after an engineering professor was forced to kneel and apologise for his ‘objectionable’ social media posts, Bijapur cops have lodged an FIR against six youths, belonging to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
Sandeep Wathar, assistant professor of civil engineering at Dr PG Halakatti Engineering College and Technology had filed a police complaint on 2 March, the day of the incident, naming the six persons. The case has been registered at the APMC police station.
D Ashok, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Bijapur told The Quint that the case wasn’t against any organisation but individuals who misbehaved.
“We have registered a case against those who came and created nuisance. The professor had disclosed some names in his police complaint, we are acting on that. The main charges are those under sections 143, 447, 290 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code that pertain to charges of punishment for unlawful assembly, criminal trespassing, public nuisance and criminal intimidation,” he said.
Wathar said that he had named people in his complaint based on Kannada news reports. According to The News Minute, Kamlesh Sahukar, Vinod Manivaddar, Sachin Bagewadi, Basavaraj Lagali, Sachin Kolur and Santhosh Choudhari have been named in the FIR.
Wathar was also summoned on Wednesday, 6 March, by the internal committee formed to investigate the incident that questioned him. While the proceedings of the meetings are confidential till a final conclusion can be reached, college principal VP Huggi said that it will take time for the decision to be made, as all angles would have to be probed. Till the matter is resolved, Wathar has been sent on temporary leave.
“They said they will call me again, they have more questions. I am not supposed to say anything about it,” said Wathar. The committee comprises senior professors and officials at the college, the principal said.
Wathar said that every day there was more ‘fake news’ coming out about him, that was damaging his reputation.
“There is also some news of people saying that I am anti-Hindu. This is new fake news. I discuss issues related to climate change in my lectures, and I show documentaries about climate change. In that context, I would have said don’t burst crackers, not just for Hindu festivals but also personally,” he said.
“I have never posted anything about religion on social media, they are not finding anything related to anti-India, they are trying to pin all this. I am an atheist, I don’t want to concern myself for all that. All this nuisance is becoming viral,” he added.
(With inputs from The News Minute)
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