Devaswom Board drops proceedings against woman lecturer

Thrissur: The management of Sree Kerala Varma College here has decided to drop proceedings against one of the lecturers in the college, Deepa Nishant, who had supported students who allegedly conducted a 'beef festival' on the campus.

Cochin Devaswom Board (CDB) that runs the college, in a meeting presided over by president M P Bhaskaran Nair, took the decision after considering the explanation provided by the teacher under inquiry. In the explanation, the lecturer had stood her ground, saying that she had never spoken a word about Kerala Varma College.

The Board also decided to continue the meat ban in college canteen.

In a Facebook post, Deepa Nisanth, a faculty of the college, had supported the 'beef festival' organised by SFI activists on October 1 to protest the lynching of a man in Uttar Pradesh over rumours of eating beef.

Though she later withdrew the post in which she supported the 'beef fest' and condemned the action of the college management against students, it went viral on social media.

In the post, Deepa had written that the educational institutions were not places of worship and that such an institution should not be governed under the same laws as a temple.

Cochin Devaswom Board has asked the college principal to submit a report on the issue after ABVP students complained against the teacher's action.

The activists of SFI, the students' wing of CPI-M, had allegedly distributed beef and bread to students on October 1 as a symbolic protest against the beef ban initiated in some states and the gruesome killing of 50-year-old Iqlak, who was lynched at Dadri over rumour of beef-eating.

Founded by Maharaja of erstwhile Kochi state, Sree Kerala Varma College is now managed by Cochin Devaswom Board, an autonomous organisation under the state government.