'Proud of Godse for Saving India': NIT-Calicut Prof Booked for Facebook Post on Martyrs' Day

Kozhikode: A professor of the National Institute of Technology-Calicut (NIT-C) was booked for her Facebook post, allegedly lending her support to Nathuram Godse for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi and saving India.

Kozhikode’s Kunnamangalam police has booked the accused, Prof Shaija A, a senior faculty member of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at NIT-Calicut, under IPC Section 153 (wantonly giving provocation with the intent to cause riot). Kerala’s ruling CPM's student organisation SFI's Kunnamangalam Area Committee Secretary Ashwin had filed a complaint in the matter, based on which the case was filed.

On January 30, which is observed as Martyrs' Day to mark the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Prof Shaija posted on Facebook, "Proud of Godse for saving India".

Her message was a comment to a post by Krishna Raj who posted Godse's photograph with the words: "Hindu Mahasabha activist Nathuram Vinayak Godse. Hero of many people in India".

Prof Shaija reportedly later deleted the post after it became controversial. As per report, there was unrest on the campus on January 22, the day the Ram temple was consecrated in Ayodhya.

A day after the professor's post became public, CPM's youth organisation DYFI, and student organisation SFI filed two complaints with Kunnamangalam police station, accusing the professor of committing 'sedition' by saying the assassin of Gandhi saved India.

"Not only that, her post was a deliberate attempt to create enmity and trigger unrest in society," said DYFI's Kozhikode District Committee's complaint.

In a statement, the organisation also demanded her removal from the institute.

Action Demanded Against Professor

Kozhikode's Lok Sabha member MK Raghavan has written to NIT-C Director Prof Prasad Krishna demanding "exemplary actions" against Prof Shaija A for her Facebook comment. "I was shocked and deeply disturbed to learn that the professor has made inappropriate remarks praising Godse. Such statements not only reflect poorly on the academic integrity of our institution but also undermine the values that we strive to uphold," he wrote and added, “It is essential to ensure that our academic environment remains inclusive, respectful, and free from any form of intolerance or hate speech". Hence, appropriate exemplary action may please be taken against the professor, Raghavan said in his letter to the Director.

Indian Youth Congress's Kunnamangalam Assembly Committee also filed a police complaint against the teacher. The Youth Congress committee's president P T Azeez said the professor portrayed Nathuram Godse, a terrorist, as a saviour of the country with the intention to destroy the harmony in society. He sought exemplary action against the professor.

Registering such opinions in the media was a seditious and deliberate attempt to polarise society and trigger riots, MSF's Kozhikode District Committee said and demanded urgent action in its complaint.

Nadakkavu Police Station in Kozhikode City said it has also received a complaint from Congress's student organisation KSU."But we have not yet registered an FIR," an officer said.