Rabindra Bharati University VC Resigns Over Obscene Distortion Of Tagore’s Songs

Kolkata: The vice chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University in West Bengal resigned on Friday after a huge controversy erupted over pictures of some young men and women who had objectionable words written on their backs and chests during the varsity’s pre-Holi celebrations went viral on Facebook.

Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, vice chancellor of the university, taking responsibility for the controversy, submitted his resignation on Friday night. He, however, said that the people seen in the photos were not students of the university, reports hindustantimes.in.

According to media reports, at the Basanto Utsav (Spring Festival) organised on the university campus on Thursday, a group of men and women were seen with derogatory words written on their bodies. Another picture showed four women in saris standing side by side, each of them with a word from a line of a Rabindranath Tagore Song written on their backs. The original words were, however, replaced with derogatory ones.

After the programme was over, a number of images became viral on Facebook showing the cuss words written on the upper back of some young women. Some other obscenities were seen written on the chest of a few young men.

Sources said Basu Roychowdhury sent his resignation to Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhabkhar, the ex-officio chancellor.

Condemning the incident, Bengal Education minister said the men and women had crossed the limits of decency. “It is shocking that someone would think about committing such an act in a cultural festival at a place associated with the name of Tagore,” he said. Chatterjee added that he will not accept Chaudhury’s resignation since it was not his responsibility alone.

 There was a furore after photos of Thursday’s incident went viral, and eminent persons demanded ‘strong punishment’ for the perpetrators, who were students of college in Hooghly district.

After the university lodged the general diary at the Sinthee police station, the accused reached the campus and apologised for their ‘mistake’ to the authorities and the student council.

Their guardians later escorted them to the police station where they gave written apology letters promising not to repeat the mistakes.