Visva-Bharati Vice-Chancellor apologises for 'Tagore was an outsider in Shantiniketan' remark
Kolkata: Under fire from various quarters for his comment that Rabindranath Tagore was "an outsider" in Shantiniketan, Visva-Bharati Vice-Chancellor Prof Bidyut Chakraborty on Friday apologised for the comment but insisted that it was misinterpreted.
Tagore had founded Visva-Bharati in 1921 and it became a central university in 1951.
Amid the row at Visva-Bharati over Poush Mela ground fencing, Chakraborty said in a statement on August 23 that Tagore had also come to Bolpur from outside to set up the institute.
The VC's "outsider" reference was apparently aimed at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who said, "Outsiders were present during the construction of the boundary wall on Poush Mela ground, an action not in consonance with Tagore's ideals of education in the lap of nature".
"I do sincerely apologise if my use of the outsider word with respect to Tagore has hurt anyone's sentiment. I am deeply sorry. Yes, they are integral with Shantiniketan. And I had never meant anything else," Chakraborty told a news channel.
A section of the faculty, the ashramites, past and present students of the institute objected to the VCs remark.
"But if you examine my entire statement closely, you will see I had just referred to a historical and geographical fact. Rabindranath Tagore and (his father) Devendranath Tagore had once stopped at this place many years back. They liked it and Shantiniketan came up afterwards," he said.
"Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was an outsider himself; had he not taken a liking to the area, Visva-Bharati wouldn't have evolved," he had said in the statement.
Chakraborty stood by his earlier comments that antisocial activities are being taken place on Poush Mela ground and said, "We want the truth to come out. We demand an independent and impartial probe."
Trouble had erupted at the central institute on August 17 after thousands of locals ransacked its property and tore down a gate to protest against the fencing work around Poush mela ground. Several people also vandalised the construction equipment on the ground.
Visva Bharati has demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident and deployment of central forces on the campus, while blaming a TMC MLA and some local ruling party leaders for the violence.
Chakraborty alleged that his wife has been recently threatened by an unidentified motorcyclist when she went out of the campus to buy vegetables.
Police said there was no complaint from the VC or his family in this regard.
Asked about the charge that he is close to the BJP, the VC said "If anyone can substantiate it, I will do whatever that person will tell me.
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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.
