Professor Shruti Pandey of Jindal Global Law School remarked that every Hindu practices untouchability and Islam is better religion.
These controversial remarks were made while teaching BA-LLB students in the first week of September. The video of the remark went viral on social media platforms on Sunday (October 10).
In the viral video, Prof Pandey can be heard saying, “My professor Upendra Bakshi, who taught in the law school, used to say that every Hindu practices untouchability… Initially, when he said that, I didn’t think so… But it is true, guys. Go back at look at yourself and how you practise untouchability in quiet, invisible ways that we don’t even understand. It is internalised like gender. So, it stayed with me that every Hindu practices untouchability.”
She added Hinduism exists because of untouchability.
Talking about widow remarriage, she remarked, “We know that this is definitely something where Hinduism has a special rule, because widow remarriage is much more acceptable in Islam. And sorry for those of you who believe that Islam is an inferior religion because this is one of the ways in which it shows that it is not.”
Prof Pandey joined Jindal Global Law School in July 2018 as Associate Professor Legal Practice and Director of the Centre for Human Rights. Before joining Jindal Global Law School, she had served as Program Officer of Ford Foundation for about a decade.
Columnist and political commentator Shefali Vaidya posted on Twitter, “Hi Mr @MPNaveenJindal you seem to be a practising Hindu. As a founding chancellor of @JindalLaw do you endorse the Hindumisia of Shruti Pandey-Director of Dept of Human Rights and says that ‘If you are a Hindu, you are practising untouchability’. Do YOU practise untouchability?”
