A college professor in Kerala has courted controversy with his remarks that women wearing jeans and shirts "will give birth to transgenders."
The state government said it planned to initiate legal action against the professor, Rejit Kumar, and bar him from government-sponsored awareness classes in schools and colleges.
"Rejit Kumar has not withdrawn his controversial statements so far. The government is mulling initiating legal action against him," Health Minister K K Shylaja said in a statement.
"He has been propagating superstition and making anti-women remarks continuously," she said.
Kumar, a Botany professor at Sree Sankara Sanskrit university in Kalady, during an awareness class for students in Kasaragod, reportedly said that women wearing jeans, shirts and dressing up like men "will give birth to transgenders."
There are over six lakh transgenders in Kerala, he said.
He also said that children of parents who are not of good character turn out to be "autistic and suffer from cerebral palsy."
Earlier, he had made disparaging remarks against girl students while addressing them at a women's college in the state capital, following which a student had booed him and walked out in protest.
"If mothers wear jeans and shirts and dress like men, they will beget children who are transgenders."
"Children suffering from autism and cerebral palsy are born to parents who are not of good character," Kumar had said.
Kumar has come under heavy criticism for his regressive comments and people are not mincing words while calling him for out for it. While one wrote, “Kerala Professor Says “Transgender Kids Are Born To Women Who Wear Jeans” I think, this ‘professor’ needs more of an education that any student,” another wrote, “How do people even come up with such low thoughts?”
Here are some of the tweets.
Although we (Kerala) have one of the highest rate of literacy, we do have our fair share of fools and some of them are college professors and why are the women always targeted ?
— Abdulla Kunhi (@AbdullaAKonline) April 4, 2018
The funny thing is many will come in support of these idiots in a literate state like Kerala as was seen in the farooq college professors remark
— Bharath S Nayanar (@bharathsnayanar) April 4, 2018
How do people even come up with such low thoughts? https://t.co/A5cf88OLDF
— Aarti Nagpal (@aartiennagpal) April 4, 2018
"Women who wear jeans give birth to transgenders..." Can you believe this statement is by a professor?
— Leena (@leenachitwan) April 4, 2018
World is spoiled by such empty-headed people. RIP intellect!#Kerala #Professor
