Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) professor Dr Jitesh Kumar on Wednesday apologised for referring to examples of "rape" in Hindu mythology while conducting a class on medical jurisprudence.
In a statement, Dr Kumar said, "My intention was not to hurt the religious sentiments of any particular religion and the reference was only to highlight that the rape has been the part of society since long, which I considered to be an inadvertent mistake on my part."
This came after the university issued him a show cause notice for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of students and staff through his presentation.
“The Aligarh Muslim University administration and the Faculty of Medicine today strongly condemned the content of a slide on the mythical reference of rape and issued a show-cause notice to Dr Jitendra Kumar for hurting the religious sentiments of the students, staff and citizens. He has been asked to submit his reply in 24 hours,” the statement read.
The university authorities also set up a two-member probe committee, but Dr Kumar was suspended pending the outcome of the inquiry, an official told news agency PTI.
This was because of the seriousness of the issue and preliminary evidence that indicated misconduct, the official said.
Dr Kumar lecture, which included a slide show, led to complaints that he had hurt the religious sentiments of students and staff members.
A controversy erupted after someone posted a video clip of the lecture on social media. The AMU authorities acted after reporters approached them for comment on Wednesday.
(With PTI inputs)
