Bengal professor faces inquiry after ‘marrying’ student in classroom

Payal Banerjee, who teaches applied psychology at Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology said on Wednesday that she had resigned from her position and would take legal action against a colleague who was allegedly attempting to malign her.

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She claimed that the videos showed a freshers event planned by her students where they had put together a mock-wedding which she participated in. Banerjee said that 12 days later her colleague shared videos of it which then became viral.

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“They (the students) requested me to play the main character and I agreed. Other faculty members knew about it and agreed to the programme; no one objected then. My first-year students and I acted per the script. There was nothing serious about it,” Payal told TOI.

An e-invitation for the event also mentioned a ‘haldi ceremony’ on January 9, ‘mehndi and sangeet’ on January 14 and the wedding on January 20, with the venue listed as the classroom. The e-invite also states that the students will be the ‘groom’ and the teacher will be the ‘bride’ in the “psychodrama”.

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Around 23 videos, supposedly from the same event, show other faculty members and students cheering as well. Payal Banerjee said that videos of only her were shared to get revenge and that this was a deliberate act. The first-year student in the video did not respond.

Interim vice-chancellor Tapas Chakrabarty said that a five-member inquiry panel had been formed to look into the event that took place on January 16, and the leaking of videos on January 28.