Ramanujan College says teachers' presence for 'course' on Gita not mandatory
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi University's Ramanujan college administration on Wednesday said that it has withdrawn the condition for mandatory attendance kept for a certificate-cum-refresher course on Srimad Bhagavad Gita for its staff.
Jigar Inamdar, chairman of Ramanujan college, told PTI, "We had withdrawn the mandatory attendance for the course on Gita on December 22, when the inaugural session of the course was held. There's no compulsion on the staff to attend the course if they don't want to. However, I publicly urged them to join the course to increase participation."
The chairman added that the college had made attendance for the course mandatory to ensure footfall and participation by the staff.
Earlier on Wednesday, a DU teachers' outfit, Democratic Teachers' Front, opposed the mandate saying that the teaching and non-teaching staff of the college were being coerced into registering for the certificate course on Bhagavad Gita.
It alleged that the college is forcing the teaching and non-teaching staff to attend the course beyond their office hours.
"Ramanujan principal SP Agarwal has abused the powers vested in him to dictate to all teachers and non-teaching staff to compulsorily register for and attend a refresher/certificate course on Srimad Bhagavad Gita," the DTF said in a statement.
"Illegally coercing teachers and non-teaching staff to remain engaged till 6.30 pm beyond official duties and the added burden of conducting the ongoing semester examinations of students is unacceptable," it added.
The refresher course, being organised by the Teaching Learning Centre is being offered till January 9 by the college from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm for all teaching and non-teaching staff in online as well as offline mode.
In an email to the teaching staff, the college principal said that the course is being offered in line with the Indian Knowledge System Centre proposed to be set up at the college.
"This course is in line with the setting up of the Indian Knowledge System Centre at the college. In view of this it is our responsibility to first sensitize ourselves through such programmes," the email read.
It further said that the college will hold such programmes not only for Bhagavad Gita but also for vedas which are part of the Indian Knowledge System.
According to the email, all newly recruited teaching staff in the last one year were asked to compulsorily register and attend the programme in offline mode along with non-teaching staff. Other senior teaching staff were given a choice to attend the course in offline or online mode.
The teachers' body had alleged that offering such a course through the Teaching Learning Centre defeats the objective of the centre, which is to promote "independent, critical and creative thinking" and gives way to propagation of "sectarian beliefs."
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
