Professor Calls A Minority Student A "Terrorist", University Suspends Prof.

Bengaluru : A student hailing from a minority community studying in PES University of Bengaluru city came in for humiliation who was repeatedly called “a terrorist” by Adjunct Professor attached to the department of Faculty of Management Commerce and Arts, PES University identified as Dr Muralidhar Deshpande. The reason for the Adjunct Professor calling a minority student allegedly "a terrorist" over the student reportedly caught talking in the classroom.

The PES University Vice-Chancellor placed Muralidhar Deshpande under suspension while an inquiry has been initiated against the Adjunct Professor by the varsity before initiating further action in the case.

Meanwhile, National Students Union of India (NSUI) Bengaluru City president Lakshya Raj filed a complaint against the Adjunct Professor in Giri Nagar police station of Bengaluru city over the incident. The PES University is located in Banashankari 3 stage of Bengaluru city.

The humiliation to the minority occurred on Tuesday when the Adjunct Professor was filmed by a fellow student in the classroom on his mobile phone.

It is said the minority student was caught by the Professor talking while the class was going on. Irked over the conduct of the student in the classroom, the Adjunct Professor scolded the minority student and the video showed “That’s why I call you a terrorist.”

It is said the Professor repeated “terrorist” aimed at the minority student a couple of times and sources told Deccan Chronicle on Saturday “The Professor used terrorist as many as 13 times.”

Speaking to this newspaper, NSUI Bengaluru City president Lakshya Raj V said “The humiliation to the minority student came to my notice on Thursday evening and lodged a complaint with Giri Nagar police over the incident at PES University.”

The Professor not only called the minority student a “terrorist” a couple of times but abused him as well, said the NSUI Bengaluru City president.

Lakshya Raj said a meeting was called by the University Vice-Chancellor and decided to place the Adjunct Professor under suspension on Friday before initiating further action after findings from an internal committee report of the University is submitted to the University.

Over the incident, Raj said after the Professor repeatedly called a minority student “terrorist,” as many as 7 students objected to the use of “terrorist” against their fellow student. The students who protested against Muralidhar Deshpande were placed under suspension by the University citing that they were engaged in watching movies on mobile phones in the classroom and other trivial reasons.

"The suspension was a repercussion over their protest against the Adjunct Professor," he said. The NSUI City president said after NSUI stood by the students, the University revoked the suspension order against 7 students.