Prof scolds student for wearing shorts; next day all girls wear micro mini shorts!

Bengaluru, Apr 8: A senior professor from a prestigious institution in Bangaluru has landed in a controversy after he reprimanded one of his female students for entering classroom without dressing “properly”.

Prof V Nagaraj, who has nearly three decades of experience, had never expected that the girl students of the National Law School of India University would revolt against him for his comments and expose their legs in a bid to “demoralise” him.

According to reports, the professor scorned a third-year girl for wearing shorts to class on April 4. In protest against this so called “public shaming”, all girl students wore “micro mini shorts” to the professor's class the next day.

In a statement on social media on Wednesday, the students alleged that the professor shamed a female student for the clothes she wore to class. He allegedly cast aspersions on her character. The statement said the student, like many others, had worn shorts to class.

“On noticing the shorts, the said professor chastised the student before the entire class by asking her to 'dress properly'. The student was uncomfortable with the remark, as were many of us, since we do not think it is correct for a teacher to impose his/her notions about appropriate clothing upon students. The student in question, who was scolded by the said professor, thought it necessary to further discuss the matter with him and not to overlook it as another instance of moral policing. Upon approaching the teacher and raising objections regarding his statement, the student, to our dismay, was once again rebuked by the professor and was exposed to a plethora of untoward comments,” it said.

On Thursday evening, students of the batch of 2018 posted on Facebook that their action was to highlight that students had faced ridicule and harassment from the professor for the way they chose to dress.

However, Prof Nagaraj denied any wrongdoing and but said he expected decorum in students' dress sense. “Nothing like (what is described in the statement) happened. Students are making false and baseless allegations. It is for the university authorities to examine this incident. This is the first time that students have made such a statement (whereas) I have been teaching for 27 years.”

The professor also said that that there was no written dress code for students in NLSIU's rules currently but he has asked the university administration to issue clarifications about the dress code to the students, especially keeping in mind that “certain decorum” is expected from students attending lectures taken “especially by a senior faculty member”.