Did not force teacher to resign, says Kolkata St Xavier's VC amid row over her Insta photos
Kolkata, Aug 20: Amid online campaigns supporting a former assistant professor of St Xavier's University, who claimed that she was forced to quit her job over some of her Instagram photos in a swimsuit, its vice-chancellor, Father Felix Raj, has rebuffed the allegation and said that it was humiliating to assume the institution would do so.
In a statement, Raj said that the university believes in preserving and maintaining the dignity and honour of its teachers, staff members, students and others connected with it.
The 31-year-old PhD holder, who had joined the privately run autonomous institution in Rajarhat in August 2021, had told PTI that she was accused of sharing inappropriate photos of her on Instagram by an internal disciplinary committee of the university, consisting of female faculty members, the VC and registrar among others.
The woman also stated that the committee, during the meeting held last October, told her such photos could have adverse impact on a section of male students and their parents.
The teacher, who has filed a police complaint in the matter, alleged that she was forced to resign after being shown printouts of some of her Instagram photos and told that the father of one of the undergraduate students had taken up the matter with university authorities after finding his son staring at the photos.
Strongly rebutting the charge, the vice-chancellor of St Xavier's University told PTI that the institute respects privacy of each of its stakeholders.
"It may kindly be specifically noted that St Xavier's University, Kolkata, has not forced any teacher to resign. And it is most humiliating to even assume that St Xavier's University, Kolkata, would force any teacher to resign," he said in a statement issued recently.
He urged media persons, social media users and others not to malign the institute.
"It has been observed that during last few days there are certain statements and write-ups in social media platform and publications in print media by unilaterally naming St Xavier's University, Kolkata and its certain officials and teachers regarding some alleged forced resignation of a university teacher, although there is no mention about the identity of the teacher.
"Needless to mention that you yourself will agree and appreciate that the university always believes in preserving and maintaining the dignity and honour of all its teachers, staff members, students and others connected with it, past and present," the statement said.
The teacher, while talking to PTI, had said that the photos shown to her in the interdisciplinary committee meeting were the ones that she had shared in the story section' of Instagram in 2020, and wondered how did the university or anyone else get access to them as they were meant to last on the app only for 24 hours.
"The thumbnails in the printout showed to me during the October 7 meeting (last year) were indeed my photos taken in a hotel abroad before I had joined the institution. It was from an Instagram story shared with my friends in early 2020, which cannot be seen by any guardian or his son. It can be viewed for only 24 hours. And none of these people have access to my account," she had said.
She maintained that nobody else could decide what she should be wearing in her private life.
The teacher, who did not wish to be identified, added that she had to resign despite having submitted a letter of apology for inappropriate conduct , if any, hurting the image of the institution.
The VC, however, vehemently denied the charges.
He told PTI there had not been any instance of any faculty member being asked to resign, but there was a meeting indeed, involving an assistant professor, in first week of October, where she herself had confirmed that a few students and guardians were following her Instagram posts.
"She had herself apologised in a letter for any conduct in public domain that was accessible to students which might not be appropriate for a teacher, the very next day. By the end of October, 2021, she sent a resignation letter to the university. That was over eight months back. The university is pained to come across malicious charges all off a sudden now," Raj said.
He said St Xavier's always stood for liberal values and never imposed any moral code of conduct on its faculty, students and staff members .
Several social media users have come out in support of the teacher, after the story was shared by news outlets. An online campaign seeking action in the matter has garnered over 24,000 signatures thus far.
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Sensex, Nifty end higher after volatile trade as India avenges Pahalgam attack
Mumbai, May 7 (PTI): Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed higher in a volatile session on Wednesday as India launched missile strikes on terrorist hideouts in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
After gyrating between gains and losses during the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 105.71 points or 0.13 per cent higher at 80,746.78. The index opened sharply down by 692 points and fell further to hit a day's low of 79,937.48 in early trade.
However, buying in private banks and select auto shares such as Tata Motors helped the barometer recover most of the losses and hit a high of 80,844.63 later.
The 50-issue Nifty of NSE advanced by 34.80 points or 0.14 per cent to settle at 24,414.40. Nifty moved between a high of 24,449.60 and a low of 24,220 during the session.
Broader markets also recouped intraday losses and closed higher by more than a per cent. Sectoral indices closed mixed as auto, realty, and metal sectors advanced while pharma and FMCG ended in the red.
"Geopolitical tensions, following India’s military response to a terrorist attack, triggered a gap-down opening. However, a swift recovery helped the indices edge higher by the close," Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd said.
In retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes early Wednesday on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base Muridke.
The military strikes were carried out under 'Operation Sindoor' two weeks after the massacre of 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.
"Even as the country is in the middle of a military action against terrorist network across the border, markets witnessed gyration during intra-day trade but eventually managed to shrug off the uncertainty to end slightly higher. While the mood will be of caution due to Indo-Pak war tension, markets could witness choppy sessions with stock-specific activity over next few days," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
From the 30-share Sensex firms, Tata Motors jumped the most by 5.05 per cent as India and the UK sealed a trade deal to reduce duties on most traded goods. The trade deal will make it easier for British firms to export whisky, cars, and other products to India.
Bajaj Finance, Eternal, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, Titan, Mahindra & Mahindra and Power Grid were among the gainers.
Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, ITC, Nestle, Reliance Industries and HCL Tech were among the laggards.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 3,794.52 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
"Geopolitical tensions like the ongoing Indo-Pak standoff under 'Operation Sindoor' tend to cause immediate market volatility. While short-term caution is reasonable, history shows that Indian markets demonstrate strong resilience once clarity returns. Unless accompanied by broader economic or global shocks, Indo-Pak tensions have not had a lasting negative impact. Investors should focus on fundamentals, not fear," said Pankaj Singh, small case manager and Founder and Principle Researcher at SmartWealth.ai.
The BSE midcap gauge jumped 1.36 per cent and smallcap index climbed 1.16 per cent.
Among sectoral indices, auto rallied the most 1.74 per cent, followed by consumer discretionary (1.21 per cent), metal (1.19 per cent), realty (1.12 per cent), consumer durables (1.05 per cent), power (0.95 per cent) and financial services (0.94 per cent).
BSE FMCG and healthcare indices were the only laggards.
As many as 2,203 stocks advanced while 1,685 declined 158 remained unchanged on the BSE.
"Indian equity markets exhibited strong resilience amid recent Indo-Pak border tensions, the measured market response indicated that geopolitical risks were largely priced in and expectations of de-escalation is prevailing among investors. At the same time, the progress on the India–UK FTA further buoyed investor optimism, driving gains in key sectors such as textiles, automobiles, and information technology," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited said.
Globally, investor sentiment has improved as the United States and China signal a willingness to resume trade negotiations, Nair added.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled in the positive territory, while Japan's Nikkei 225 ended lower.
Markets in Europe were quoting in the negative territory. US markets ended lower on Tuesday.
India and the UK on Tuesday sealed a landmark free trade agreement that will lower tariffs on 99 per cent Indian exports and will make it easier for British firms to export whisky, cars, and other products to India besides boosting the overall trade basket.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.64 per cent to USD 62.55 a barrel.
Snapping its two days of gains, the BSE benchmark declined 155.77 points or 0.19 per cent to settle at 80,641.07 on Tuesday. The Nifty dipped 81.55 points or 0.33 per cent to 24,379.60.
