Jadavpur University professor Kanak Sarkar compares women's virginity to bottle seals; 'shockingly misogynistic' says NCW

A political science professor of Kolkata’s Jadavpur University has been on the receiving end of the internet’s outrage after he put up a Facebook post comparing a woman’s virginity to the seal on a bottle or packet. The post, which has since been deleted, said that to most boys a “virgin wife is like an angel” and thus, they should make sure that the women they marry are “biologically sealed from birth”. The National Commission for Women has taken suo motu cognisance of Sarkar’s comments, which it called “ shockingly misogynistic”. Chairperson Rekha Sharma asked the West Bengal director general of police to probe into the matter and take appropriate action in case. Meanwhile, in a fresh development, journalist and Sarkar’s former student, Adrija Chatterjee, has recounted on Facebook an incident where she was giving a presentation in class and Sarkar, then the head of the department, had interrupted her to ask her if she wanted to become a model, because she had “what men would enjoy”, reported News18. Professor Sarkar’s name has also featured in a list of sexual offenders in academia, crowdsourced by Raya Sarkar. [caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“825” class=“noalign”] A screenshot of Kanak Sarkar’s original post, which has since been deleted. Twitter/@A_Rafique05[/caption] The post, titled “Virgin Bride - Why Not?” is sub-headed by the line that it is intended to be “value oriented social counselling for educated youth.” This is not the first time that Sarkar has posted on women’s virginity. Many of the online commenters are students and former students who speak of being exasperated with Sarkar’s posts. In the aftermath of the backlash, the professor has deleted many of his more controversial posts, reported The Quint. The professor has followed up the post with a rejoinder, defending his decision to write “personal opinions”. [caption id=“attachment_5898811” align=“alignnone” width=“825” class=“noalign”] A screenshot of Kanak Sarkar’s Facebook post in defence of his controversial one.[/caption] “I am doing social research and writing for the good and wellbeing of society…it’s everybody’s right to express his/her thoughts (sic),” he wrote. Sarkar’s colleagues and the academic fraternity have been quick to dissociate themselves from his comments, reported Times of India. Partha Pratim Ray, the general secretary of the Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA) said in a statement, “JUTA unequivocally condemns the highly deplorable, misogynistic and sexist comments made by Kanak Sarkar.”