Comment praising Godse: Cops question NIT-C prof, ask her to appear at station on Feb 13

Kozhikode: Kunnamangalam police on Sunday questioned National Institute of Technology-Calicut (NIT-C) professor Shaija Andavan, who posted a controversial comment praising Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse on Facebook, at her house in Chathamangalam. Police asked Shaija to appear at the station on February 13.

Meanwhile, the NIT-C constituted a panel to investigate the incident and assured appropriate action based on the findings of the committee, an official statement said here on Saturday. Authorities of the institution made it clear that the institute does not endorse or support any comment that goes against the principles and values upheld by Mahatma Gandhi.

The panel was constituted a week after Shaija had been booked by police for her Facebook comment. A senior faculty member of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the institute here, she had posted a comment on Facebook on January 30 saying "Proud of Godse for saving India". She had commented on a post by a lawyer, Krishna Raj, who posted Godse's photograph captioning it as 'Hindu Mahasabha activist Nathuram Vinayak Godse, a hero of many in India'.

Multiple complaints were lodged against Shaija in several police stations in the city by various student organisations, including SFI, KSU and MSF, following which an FIR was registered against her. IPC Section 153 (wantonly giving provocation with the intent to cause riot) was invoked against the professor. Kunnamangalam and Nadakkavu police stations were among those where complaints were filed against her. Many student outfits including SFI and ABVP took out protest marches to the NIT campus seeking action against her.
(With PTI inputs)