'Women only fit to give birth, be in kitchen': 2 professors claim Hyderabad university VC made sexist remarks

Two women professors, including the principal and a faculty member of a Hyderabad engineering college, have lodged a police complaint against Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH) vice-chancellor T Kishen Kumar Reddy, alleging that he made derogatory, gender-discriminatory and intimidating remarks against them, police said.

Principal of Vidya Jyothy Institute of Technology (VJIT) A Srujana and professor and head of the department of computer science engineering in the same college D Aruna Kumari lodged a complaint with the Kukatpally Housing Board (KPHB) police.

“We have received the complaint from the women professors, but had not registered an FIR yet. We are making enquiries into the veracity of the complaint and we shall book the case, if the allegations are prima facie proved,” KPHB inspector of police G Vijay Kumar said.

According to the complaint, which HT has seen, the two women professors had gone to meet the vice-chancellor on Tuesday, after taking a prior appointment to invite him as a chief guest at an event scheduled to be held at VJIT on October 30.

They said they approached him in their official capacity and expected the interaction to be a routine academic engagement. However, they alleged that Reddy behaved in an aggressive, hostile and intimidating manner.

“He deliberately did not offer them seats, stating that we were merely servants of the institution and did not deserve to be given seats or treated with ordinary courtesy,” the complaint said.

The women alleged that the vice-chancellor shouted at them at the top of his voice and told them that he would not attend any programme at VJIT. “He tore up the invitation in front of us and threw it into a dustbin, saying we deserve to be treated like trash in the dustbin,” they said.

According to the complaint, Reddy even said he wanted to remove all the women employees working in their institution. “He made sweeping remarks that women were fit only to give birth, remain in the kitchen and stay confined to their homes. He said women were incapable of contributing to an institution’s progress and instead impeded its functioning,” they said in the complaint.

“When we tried to give an explanation, he did not allow us to speak and even threatened to break our legs so that we couldnot even walk,” they added.

The complainants further alleged that the vice-chancellor made disparaging comments about Anurag University CEO Neelima too during the interaction.

The women faculty members said the alleged conduct was unbecoming of the head of a major technical university and violated their dignity. They requested the police to take necessary legal action against Prof Reddy.