07-14-2007, 06:13 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Lecturer held for Islam remark
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Hyderabad, July 13: More than 2,000 students of the St. Annâs Degree College for Women in Mehdipatnam took out a protest on Friday after a lecturer allegedly made certain remarks against the Holy Quran and in favour of author Salman Rushdie. The students gathered in the college campus and raised slogans against the lecturer demanding an apology from her. They were not ready to withdraw the protest even after she apologised.
More than 100 police personnel were deployed at the college to avoid any untoward incidents. Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MLAs, Ahmed Pasha Quadri and Afsar Khan, and TRS MLA H.A. Rehman visited the college to support the studentsâ agitation and demanded the arrest of the lecturer. She was later arrested by the Asif Nagar police on Friday evening.
The students alleged that J. Prashanti, a political science lecturer of the college, had made the remarks after asking final year students to discuss Salman Rushdie and his writings. When she spoke in favour of the writer, the students disputed with her. Then the lecturer allegedly made remarks against Islam and Holy Quran. âShe repeated this thrice in two days,â an agitating student said on condition of anonymity.
The students maintained that what actually angered them was the lecturerâs comment that their presence in the classroom meant that they had accepted her viewpoint. Meanwhile, the college management and other lecturers backed Ms Prashanti and said the controversy arose due to misunderstanding. âIt was purely misunderstanding,â said the college principal P. Fatima Rani. âI spoke to the lecturer over this and she told me that she did not pass on the remarks intentionally.â
The principal added that the students did not complain to her of the incident. âI got to know of the issue through some of the lecturers on Friday and immediately I called both the students and the lecturer seeking an explanation,â she said. Ms Fatima reiterated that there was no need to take action on Ms Prashanti since she did nothing wrong. Other lecturers also supported her and said that the students and the media were blowing the issue out of proportion.
Under pressure from the students and MIM leaders, police took the lecturer to Asif Nagar police station for questioning and later booked a case against her under section 153A of IPC for promoting enmity between different religious groups.
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let's see what the "freedom of expression" brigade say about this.
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Hyderabad, July 13: More than 2,000 students of the St. Annâs Degree College for Women in Mehdipatnam took out a protest on Friday after a lecturer allegedly made certain remarks against the Holy Quran and in favour of author Salman Rushdie. The students gathered in the college campus and raised slogans against the lecturer demanding an apology from her. They were not ready to withdraw the protest even after she apologised.
More than 100 police personnel were deployed at the college to avoid any untoward incidents. Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MLAs, Ahmed Pasha Quadri and Afsar Khan, and TRS MLA H.A. Rehman visited the college to support the studentsâ agitation and demanded the arrest of the lecturer. She was later arrested by the Asif Nagar police on Friday evening.
The students alleged that J. Prashanti, a political science lecturer of the college, had made the remarks after asking final year students to discuss Salman Rushdie and his writings. When she spoke in favour of the writer, the students disputed with her. Then the lecturer allegedly made remarks against Islam and Holy Quran. âShe repeated this thrice in two days,â an agitating student said on condition of anonymity.
The students maintained that what actually angered them was the lecturerâs comment that their presence in the classroom meant that they had accepted her viewpoint. Meanwhile, the college management and other lecturers backed Ms Prashanti and said the controversy arose due to misunderstanding. âIt was purely misunderstanding,â said the college principal P. Fatima Rani. âI spoke to the lecturer over this and she told me that she did not pass on the remarks intentionally.â
The principal added that the students did not complain to her of the incident. âI got to know of the issue through some of the lecturers on Friday and immediately I called both the students and the lecturer seeking an explanation,â she said. Ms Fatima reiterated that there was no need to take action on Ms Prashanti since she did nothing wrong. Other lecturers also supported her and said that the students and the media were blowing the issue out of proportion.
Under pressure from the students and MIM leaders, police took the lecturer to Asif Nagar police station for questioning and later booked a case against her under section 153A of IPC for promoting enmity between different religious groups.
http://www.deccan.com/home/homedetails.asp<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
let's see what the "freedom of expression" brigade say about this.