Muslim student schools Manipal Institute of Technology professor who allegedly called him ‘Kasab’

A 45 second video of a Muslim student confronting his professor in a classroom for allegedly calling him ‘Kasab’ has gone viral online. The video has garnered over 1.7 million views on the microblogging site. The full video of 48 seconds is also being circulated on WhatsApp groups.

The video shows a student wearing a blue kurta talking to his professor in a classroom occupied by several other students.

I found out that the viral video is from Manipal Institute of Technology, a private constituent institution of Manipal Academy of Higher Education that specialises in engineering and is located in south Karnataka's Udupi district. Udupi was also the focal point of the ongoing hijab controversy in India.

The incident happened on November 25 during a lecture of semester one of the Department of Civil Engineering.

I reached out to the 18-year-old Muslim student who confronted the professor. He did not wish to speak to the media fearing reprisal and wished to remain anonymous. 

In the video, the student says, “No, these jokes are not acceptable. You cannot joke about my religion that too (sic) such a terrible manner.”

"You are just like my kid," the teacher is heard saying. To which the student replies, "if a father (sic) this, I will disown him."

The professor responds, “It's a funny thing.”  The student then reacts by saying, “No, it's not, Sir, it's not. 26/11 was not funny. Being a Muslim in this country and facing all this every day is not funny.”

“You are just like my son,” the professor says again. “No, no, no. Will you talk to your son like that? Will you call him by the name of a terrorist?"

He adds: "How can you call me like that? In front of so many people? In class. You're a professional, you're teaching."

When the teacher says 'sorry', the student replies, "sorry doesn't change how you think or how you portray yourself here."

A student of the Department of Civil Engineering spoke to me the condition of anonymity. “Sir, called him ‘Kasab’ as a joke. The student got offended,” he said. He did not respond to further questions.

Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab was a Pakistani terrorist and part of the 10-man team of the Lashkar-e-Taiba that carried out the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, claiming the lives of 166 people.

Another student whom I spoke to said, “Sir taught me during my second semester. I know him as a person. He would not have meant it. He is actually very good.”

I reached out to assistant professor Ravindranatha who allegedly called the student ‘Kasab’. “He is a good student only. He was not writing his notes. I asked him why he was not writing? He was a bit disturbed. I asked him ‘kaise hai aap’. He confused it with ‘Kasab’,” said Ravindranatha.

The professor said the student attended his class the next day and even apologised.

When I asked him why he said in the video ‘it's a funny thing’, he did not respond. 

Ravindranatha said people have taken the video out of context. 

I reached out to S.P. Kar, director of PR, Media and Social Media. Kar said, “It has been reported to us and there is an inquiry committee looking into that.” The incident was reported to the university administration on the night of November 27. 

“This is a sensitive thing which has come to us. We as a university value treating everyone alike irrespective of their caste, religion, gender etc,” he added.

Kar said that the professor has been debarred from taking classes. 

Arbab Ali is an independent reporter based in New Delhi