11 September,2014 01:45 PM IST | | Niranjan Medhekar
While the English teacher of the Chinchwad college defended his statement on ‘inevitable rape’ saying he was quoting a British novelist, the rampaging students weren’t impressed
principal car
If rape is inevitable, just relax and enjoy it - this misguided attempt at imparting âwisdom' by English teacher Nivant Kamble during a lecture caused an uproar in Chinchwad's Shree Jain Vidya Prasarak Mandal's Sanghvi Kesari College yesterday morning.
While Kamble had made the statement last week, angry students protested and demanded his suspension yesterday.
The principal's car, which was damaged by the protesting students
They claimed they had approached the college authorities on the day of the incident itself, but decided to protest yesterday when they didn't see any action being taken. The angry mob did not even spare the four-wheeler of college Principal Dr K N Bavle, and left it badly damaged.
"In his lecture last week, Kamble sir deliberately made this statement in front of girls. When heinous crimes like rape are on the rise, how can a teacher justify things like that by making such statements?" asked a first-year BCom girl. After the protest, Kamble tendered an apology, but told mid-day that his intentions weren't wrong and he had apologised only to calm things down.
"It is the statement by a famous British novelist and I had said it as part of a particular reference in contradictory literature. However, some students deliberately picked up that particular sentence from my 45-minute lecture to malign my character," he said.
Admitting that the particular topic of contradictory literature is not in syllabus designed for first-year students, Kamble said, "One must understand I had not at all justified the meaning of that sentence. I was just giving a reference." When mid-day asked why he had apologised, Kamble said, "The whole issue has been deliberately politicised. Hence, to ensure the smooth functioning of the college, I extended an apology."
Principalspeak
"See, it is not expected that teachers should restrict themselves to the syllabus. But while giving additional references, it is important to see how the students receive them. As the teacher has apologised, the matter is over for me. We have not yet decided on setting up an inquiry," said Bavle.
