The Educationists’ Forum of West Bengal has sent a legal notice for civil and criminal defamation to Governor C.V. Ananda Bose for his alleged slanderous remarks about the former Vice-Chancellors of various universities in the State. File
| Photo Credit: Debasish Bhaduri
The Educationists’ Forum of West Bengal has sent a legal notice for civil and criminal defamation to Governor C.V. Ananda Bose and asked him to apologise for his alleged slanderous remarks about the former Vice-Chancellors of various universities in the State. Members of the forum claimed to have given him seven days’ time to respond before they filed a case against him in court on the same issue.
In a press conference on July 9, Educationists’ Forum member Prof. Omprakash Mishra said that Ananda Bose has immunity under the law as the governor and not as the Chancellor of the West Bengal Universities. The aggrieved ex-VCs have also asked for ₹50,00,000 compensation for each member as compensation for defamation.
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“That on 7th September 2023 many channels televised your speech in Bengali language in which you uttered that some of the Vice Chancellors were corrupt, some Vice Chancellors harassed girl students, and some Vice Chancellors played political game in the universities. You have also given an interview to The Indian Express on 8h September 2023 making similar allegations,” the legal notice pointed out.
The Governor’s allegations in such interviews were “blatant lies and misleading” and intended to spread rumours about the former V-Cs, they noted.
On September 14 last year as well, the forum sent notice to Mr. Bose, voicing their concerns over the same issue. They had asked for a retraction of his statement, an apology, and damages for the comments.
No official response has been issued by the Raj Bhawan or Mr. Bose.
