Assam teacher held for derogatory remarks against PM

Guwahati: A college teacher in Assam was arrested for his social media post where he allegedly used swear words against “Sanatan dharma” and made derogatory comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi in relation to the recent Delhi violence.

Souradeep Sengupta was arrested by the police on Friday night from his home in Silchar in Cachar district after students of Gurucharan College protested near his house and later filed a police complaint.

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Sengupta, a guest lecturer of Physics in the college and former student leader of Presidency University, had come out with a Facebook post on Tuesday where he accused the BJP and RSS of “trying to recreate Godhra in Delhi right now”, made abusive comments about Modi besides using swear words about ‘Sanatan dharma’.

According to the teacher’s family, a group of students had staged a demonstration against Sengupta at the college for his post, following which he deleted it and apologised on Facebook itself for unintentionally hurting religious sentiments.

But later, “some 50 members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)” carried out another protest demonstration on Friday at his house when he was away demanding he apologise on Facebook live.

Sengupta was arrested after he returned home.

The police have slapped charges under 153A ( Promoting enmity between different groups) 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code as also the relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.

Earlier, the students filed a police complaint alleging that Sengupta “made derogatory remarks” about the Prime Minister, abused the ‘Sanatan Dharma’ as a whole” and “tried to incite communal violence by making inflammatory comments against the Hindu community, in the context of the recent Delhi violence.”

“As a guest lecturer of the college, by applying his destructive ideology in teaching he has influenced many students and will continue influencing many more, if he is allowed to continue as a guest lecturer of this highly esteemed institute of our state,” the students said.

IANS