Lecturer's parents shaken after son hauled up by ABVP for FB

The parents of Sandeep Wathar, a lecturer in an engineering college in Vijayapura are yet to overcome the shock after their son was forced to kneel down and apologise for his alleged 'anti-India' Facebook post by some ABVP members.

Condemning the escalation of tension between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of pre-emptive airstrikes on the terror beds inside Pakistan, Wathar had hailed Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for his gesture of returning captured wing commander Abhinandan Varthaman.

Using certain derogatory words in his Facebook post on Saturday, he condemned the right wing groups for their war mongering.

Picking up his post, members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had stormed the Dr P G Halakatti Engineering College, run by Bijapur Lingayat Development Education Society, where he teaches.

The activists made Wathar kneel down for his 'anti-India' post on a social media platform at Vijayapura and forced him to seek an apology with folded hands and head down.

"A few of them were my students. I have forgotten their names. I don't know what objection they had with my post. They did not understand the content of my subject and forced me to seek an apology and delete my post," Wathar told PTI.

While he claimed that he was unnerved by the ABVP action, his parents were rattled.

"They were in tears and did not speak or eat for the whole day," said Wathar.

Based on Wathar's complaint, police have registered a case against the ABVP members.

"Those who created a ruckus in the college, we have registered a case against them," Vijayapura Superintendent of Police Prakash Nikam told PTI.

Since the accused were booked under bailable offences, nobody has been arrested, Nikam added.

The institution where Wathar teaches is headed by home minister M B Patil.

The lecturer said the management had not objected to his post.

Flying a MIG 21 Bison, Abhinandan had engaged in a dogfight with an F16 jet of the Pakistan Air Force.

In the course of the dogfight, his plane too was hit, but he ejected safely and was caught by the Pakistan authorities.

As a "goodwill gesture", Pakistan released Abhinandan to de-escalate tension post-IAF's retaliatory attack targetting the terror camps in the neighbouring country.