Jharkhand varsity suspends teacher for inviting JNU prof

An associate professor of JharkhandCentralUniversity of has been suspended for inviting a teacher from the JawaharlalNehruUniversity to an event.

According to reports, Shreya Bhattacharji has been accused of ‘tarnishing’ the varsity’s image by inviting a JNU professor to an event to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel earlier this month.

JNU professor M N Panini was invited by Bhattacharji to the event but he did not attend it eventually.

Terming Prof Panini a ‘person of disputed integrity’, the suspension order issued by the university says, ‘Prof Panini is considered as mentor of the group of students of JNU, who were involved in anti-national activities on JNU campus recently. As such, the invitation to Prof Panini by Dr Shreya Bhattacharji, without examining his credentials, led to widespread criticism from different quarters of the society as a result of which not only the image of the University was tarnished as well as the reputation of the vice chancellor was put on stake.’

The order also said that Bhattacharji’s invitation to Panini forced state Governor Draupadi Murmu, who was the chief guest, not to attend the event.