A former assistant professor at Xavier’s University, Kolkata who was allegedly sacked for posting pictures in a swimsuit on her personal Instagram account lives in fear even months after the incident. She is no longer on social media platforms and has been jobless for months. She also claims that the incident has taken a toll on her entire family and is fighting a legal suit with the university which has filed a defamation case of Rs 99 crore against her.
The assistant professor was allegedly asked to leave her job after the father of a student complained that his son was looking at her photographs.
The teacher claims that the pictures were uploaded as stories – a feature that makes photos disappear after 24 hours. She does not know how the images got leaked and claimed that someone would have taken a screenshot and circulated the images. The university did not believe her. She also claims that the images were uploaded before she joined the university.
“They should have found out how the student got access to that photo, instead, they took steps against me”
They should have found out how the student got access to that photo, instead, they took steps against me, claims the teacher.
She was sacked in October 2021, however, fearing for her wellbeing she is still not ready to disclose her name or location. Speaking exclusively to News18, she said that her pictures were uploaded before she joined the university. “I joined this University in August. I had uploaded photos in a swimsuit before joining university which is legally not wrong.”
“I was told suddenly to be present in front of a committee set up by the University. When I went there they showed me my photos, they had already taken print-outs of my photos without my permission. They asked me whether it was me or not and how I think it would affect students?,” she recalled.
“They intimated me from October 7. I was not given any time to respond. On October 8th I had one on one interaction with VC, he threatened me that he will do FIR against me. I had to put down my papers,” said the teacher.
“They did witch hunt. They did not give me the minutes of the meeting. They did not follow Vishakha guidelines. When I sent them a legal letter asking all this. They wrote I should give an unconditional apology and I should give them Rs 99 crore.”
“Which rule did I violate? Why did they not do social media evaluation before they hired me?”
The former assistant professor also claims that she does not have any idea who was the father-son duo who complained against her. The university authorities were constantly safeguarding them, she claimed. “In this University students are customers so they will safeguard them.”
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