Assam professor gets bail after four days

KOLKATA: Silchar professor Souradeep Sengupta’s bail on Tuesday was greeted with relief by his family, friends and students of Presidency University. A Silchar court on Tuesday morning granted Sengupta bail asking him not to leave Silchar and cooperate with the investigating officer.
Sengupta, a guest lecturer at Gurucharan College’s physics department, was arrested on Friday for posting some “objectionable comments” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Facebook. The arrest had prompted protests at his alma mater in Kolkata — Presidency University.
Sengupta is a former student of physics at Presidency University and a former AGS of students’ union. Sumallya Mukhopadhyay, who was the president during his stint, said, “I’m glad he has been granted bail. But that he had to stay in police custody, over a trivial matter, shows the intolerance in our society, especially among those who align to a particular ideology.”
President of Presidency University students’ union Mimosa Gharai feels that it is a positive move but in a free country, the incident is an attack on the freedom of expression. Aritra Ghosh, Sengupta’s classmate at Presidency, said, “I hope this is the end of a terrible saga and Souradeep resumes his normal life.”