Lucknow University Professor Assaulted On Campus Over Remark On Kashi Vishwanath Temple

The professor escaped the assault as the two guards accompanying him overpowered the student and handed him over to the police. Chandan had lodged a complaint in the police regarding the incident.

New Delhi: A professor of Lucknow University was allegedly assaulted on campus by a student on Wednesday, days after a controversy had erupted following his remarks on the Kashi Vishwanath temple, reported news agency Press Trust of India. 

The incident occurred around 1 pm outside the proctor's office.

"Karthik Pandey, a student leader, came to me and started hurling abuses and casteist slurs at me and hit me," Professor Ravi Kant Chandan of the university's Hindi department said.

The professor escaped the assault as the two guards accompanying him overpowered the student and handed him over to the police. Chandan had lodged a complaint in the police regarding the incident.

"I have filed a complaint with the police regarding the incident. This incident shows that my life is under constant threat," the professor said.

Hours after the incident, Kartik Pandey, an office bearer of the Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha, a student outfit of the Samajwadi Party, was ousted from the outfit, reported the news agency. 

Pandey was also suspended from the university and a committee had been formed to investigate the matter, said Lucknow University spokesperson Durgesh Srivastav. 

The attack comes a week after an FIR was registered against the professor for allegedly hurting Hindu religious sentiments among other charges based on the complaint by the ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad). He was accused of making objectionable comments over the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi complex in Varanasi during a debate on an online portal.