Pune college principal expresses regret over letter to police

Fergusson College principal R G Pardeshi today expressed "regret" over the letter written to police wherein he had sought action against individuals for allegedly raising anti-national slogans on the campus during an informal ABVP's 'Truth of JNU' event on Tuesday.
Pardeshi has already retracted his statement wherein he had stated that such slogans were raised, calling it a "human error" while drafting the letter.
Pardeshi said in a release today that "the education institute does not believe in taking sides."
"The letter, which was issued to the police, was written in tremendous tension due to the chaos in the campus. The said letter was drafted by my office and I had little time to verify the contents.

"It is purely a human error and it was not intended to hurt feelings of any person or group and as an educational institute, we do not believe in taking up sides," the release said.
Pardeshi said the letter given to the police stands withdrawn.

"In this episode, if any person is hurt, we express regrets," he said.
Pardeshi's letter to police had caused a flutter with the reference to the sloganeering during ABVP's informal event to discuss the topic 'Truth of JNU' in presence of JNU ABVP leader Alok Singh.
In the wake of the letter, several Dalit organisations accused him of branding students including Sujat Ambedkar, great-grandson of B R Ambedkar and son of former MP Prakash Ambedkar, as "anti-nationals".

Meanwhile, the Deccan Education Society, which runs the college, today appealed to the political, social and educational institutes to cooperate so that academic activities in the college continue smoothly.