Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain Plea Of Professor Dismissed From St.Xavier's University Over Instagram Picture

The Supreme Court, on Monday, refused to entertain a plea filed by a former professor of St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata who was allegedly forced to tender resignation pursuant to complaints by an undergraduate student’s parent over her photographs on her personal Instagram account. The former professor (petitioner) assailed the order passed by the Calcutta High Court dismissing her plea to proceed with the writ petition anonymously, without making her identity public.

As the matter was called out, the Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner sought an adjournment. Refusing her request to adjourn the matter, the Bench comprising Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Rajesh Bindal indicated that it was not inclined to entertain the plea. However, the Bench agreed to pass over the matter. Eventually, the Counsel for the petitioner sought permission of the Court to withdraw the petition. Accordingly, the Bench recorded, “petition dismissed as withdrawn”.

At the outset Justice Kohli orally remarked that the petition filed before the Supreme Court was a frivolous one. She emphasised that since the writ petition before the High Court relates to a service matter the request of the petitioner to not disclose her name in the proceedings before the High Court cannot be granted. The judge said, “Absolutely frivolous petition.We don’t see how we'll entertain this. Giving colour of sexual harassment at workplace in a situation of pure service matter and say delete my name and don’t disclose it.”

It appears that in the writ petition filed before the High Court the petitioner has raised allegations pertaining to her resignation, which she claims is forced. Seemingly, the resignation pertains to a complaint made by a parent of an undergraduate student who found him looking at the petitioner’s photographs on her private Instagram account. According to the parent, the photographs were objectionable.

In the proceedings before the High Court, the petitioner had beseeched the Court not to disclose her identity to maintain her privacy. The request for the same was dismissed by the High Court. The High Court had noted that though several statutes provide for conducting trial without disclosing the name of the lady survivor, Courts need to function in a manner as transparently as possible. Thus, the non-disclosure of the identity of the litigant is not the rule but an exception. It further noted, “In the present case, the principal grievance of the petitioner relates to her resignation from the relevant post. It is a service matter. In my view no justification has been shown by the petitioner to proceed with this writ petition without disclosing her name”. While dismissing the request for non-disclosure of identity, the High Court granted liberty to the petitioner to file a fresh writ petition for the same cause of action.

[Case Title: X v. St. Xavier’s University Kolkata And Ors. Diary No. 12808/2023]