Kozhikode: Noted Malayalam writer T Padmanabhan has flayed Deepa Nisanth, the college lecturer and poetess who is at the centre of a plagiarism row.
"I was saddened to hear that Deepa plagiarised a poem. This is happening in a field which had seen greats such as Balamaniamma and Sugathakumari," the writer said during a event of the Kerala School Teachers Association on Saturday.
"Is she fit to teach students?" Padmanabhan sought to know.
An assistant professor at the Kerala Varma College in Thrissur, Deepa was recently accused of plagiarising a poem. The row followed the publication of a poem titled ‘Anganeyirikke...’ in a magazine published by the All-Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association in Deepa's name. Young writer S Kalesh alleged that the poem was a direct lift of his earlier work, ‘Anganeyirikke Marichu Poyi Njan/Nee’, published on his blog in 2011 and in a weekly later.
Deepa later admitted that it was not her creation and blamed activist Sreechithran MJ for passing it to her as an original work.
Deepa hit headlines earlier this month again after protests erupted over her being named as one of the judges of an event at the recently concluded Kerala State School Youth Festival. She was removed from the panel after the protests intensified.
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