Bollywood slams German professor's ‘rape comment'

The recent rejection of an Indian student’s internship application in the Leipzig University in Germany, because he is from India — "a country with a rape problem", has come under heavy criticism from various quarters, including Bollywood.

The recent rejection of an Indian student’s internship application in the Leipzig University in Germany, because he is from India — "a country with a rape problem", has come under heavy criticism from various quarters, including Bollywood.

An-Indian-student-has-accused-professor-Annette-G-Beck-Sickinger-of-denying-him-a-biochemistry-internship-because-of-the-rape-problem-in-India-Photo-courtesy-biochemie-uni-leipzig-de-agbs

Annette Beck Sickinger, a professor at the university, rejected the application by clearly stating that she would not accept any male Indian student for internships because she does not want the other female students in the group to feel unsafe. When the miffed student countered the bias by saying that the professor was clearly generalising, she replied, "it was unbelievable that the Indian society was not able to solve this problem."

While there is a thought that the image of Indian men have taken a beating in the global platform following the release of a recent documentary on the December 16 Delhi gangrape, by a British filmmaker, actor Anushka Sharma does not seem to agree.

She says the solution to breaking this stereotype is by not by banning a documentary. "No, that is not right. But this is what happens when there is filth going on in the country. Not just women, even the men get affected. However, this comment is insensitive and immature," she says.

Actor-politician Khushboo says, "I condemn this, it’s extremely discriminating. Does Germany not have rapes cases? How can you stereotype this? Generalisation is part of the problem."

Shobhaa De tweeted, "It's time for Sons of India to rise up and protest!How dare German Prof. Annette Beck-Sickinger from Leipzig University make such comments?"

Sickinger apologised later, and claimed that her "words were taken out of context".