Pervert professor with #MeToo past in the dock again

Kaartikeya Bajpai was hired by Jai Hind College as a temporary teacher

The founder and former editor of The Bombay Review, an online literary magazine, Kaartikeya Bajpai, 24, has been removed as visiting faculty at Churchgate-based Jai Hind College's Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM) department after he allegedly came for a lecture inebriated, spanked a male student, cursed in front of the class, flipped his finger at them, 'tucked a student's hair behind her ear and smelt her hand', earlier this month. Hired by the college, apparently without a background check, Bajpai has previously been accused of sexual misconduct at his workplace.

A complaint has been registered against him with the Churchgate-based college's Internal Complaint Committee (ICC).

After the Saturday, February 8 incident, students approached the Bachelors of Mass Media department's head of department, Dr S Varalakshmi, who fired him immediately.

Following allegations of sexual misconduct and sexist behaviour towards a former employee, Bajpai left The Bombay Review (TBR) in 2018. He had then "apologised unconditionally".

Student narrates lecture
A first-year BMM student mid-day spoke to said that they did not know of the allegations against Bajpai when his lectures began at Jai Hind. But by the third lecture, everyone got to know of his background.

"Someone from the class must have googled him. The first article that showed up was about his past (harassment) case," the student said.

"First of all, he came drunk. He was passing unnecessary comments. He spanked a guy. He came up behind a girl, leaned in and flipped the pages of her book and said how he would like to do to her what he did to the guy. He also rated another girl as being a 4/10."

According to students, this wasn't the first time Bajpai misbehaved in class.

"Once, he gave us a break during class. A girl was playing a game on her phone and she made some sound, and he commented saying, 'No orgasms in my class'. He tried to act like he was a part of our class but the fact is that he was not - he was a teacher."

"Why was there no background check before he was hired to teach us? Despite this incident at our college, he continues teaching at other colleges," the student added.

According to another student, Bajpai also "tucked a student's hair behind her ear and smelt her hand".

What college says
Jai Hind principal Ashok Wadia told mid-day that Bajpai was hired as a 'temporary' teacher and was not a permanent faculty at the college. "He was a visiting faculty but we take responsibility (for the incident). It is very important that students and parents trust us," he said.

Wadia said that he has never met or seen Bajpai. "He had been teaching somewhere else and I received feedback. Which is why he was roped in," Wadia said, adding that BMM department's head Dr Varalakshmi hired Bajpai.

When asked if the college's decision to do away with a background check and rely on feedback from another institute sets a dangerous precedent, Wadia said, "Yes, a background check should have been done. We are now making sure that every new hire is scrutinised.

"I have personally assured the students. I will not have this kind of thing brushed under the carpet. This case has been referred to the ICC. The CCTV footage from class has also been handed over to the committee."

HOD speak
"This fellow was not supposed to teach initially. A faculty fell ill and we needed someone to finish a novel in five to six lectures. Since he was teaching somewhere, I thought I could hire him since it was a stopgap measure. I have nothing to hide - I am the one who threw the guy out immediately," Dr Varalakshmi told mid-day.

mid-day reached out to Bajpai for comment on the incident but did not get a response despite multiple messages and phone calls.

Feb 8 - Day the incident took place

2018 - Year Kaartijeya Bajpai was accused of sexual misconduct and sexism by a former employee of The Bombay Review

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