Do not generalize India as a country of rapists.
That was a stern message from the German ambassador in New Delhi after a professor back home appeared to deny a male Indian student’s application for an internship, due to the South Asian nation’s “rape problem.”
Emails said to have been sent by Professor Annette Beck-Sickinger were posted on social-networking site Quora, with the question “What should an Indian male student do if he is denied an internship opportunity on the basis of India being projected as an unsafe country for women?”
‘Rape problem in India’
In the emails, Professor Annette Beck-Sickinger of the University of Leipzig is said to have stated she does not accept Indian men to her class.
“Unfortunately, I don’t accept any Indian male students for internships,” read the email posted to Quora. “We hear a lot about the rape problem in India which I cannot support. I have many female students in my group, so I think this attitude is something I cannot support,” the professor purportedly wrote in comments that triggered an angry reaction online.
“Don’t leave this issue. It is a serious fault to generalize people on such grounds. File a complaint,” wrote a user named Sas Vijay on the Quora thread. “I don’t wanna come to an era where I should say ‘Hii (sic), I’m from India, I’m not a rapist’…” posted another man, Hemanth Sriteja.
Ambassador reacts
On Monday, German’s Ambassador to India Michael Steiner issued a firm diplomatic response to Beck-Sickinger.
“Your oversimplifying and discriminating generalization is an offense to these women and men ardently committed to furthering women empowerment in India; and it is an offense to millions of law-abiding, tolerant, open-minded and hard-working Indians,” he wrote in a letter posted on the embassy website.
“Let’s be clear: India is not a country of rapists.
“I would encourage you to learn more about the diverse, dynamic and fascinating country and the many welcoming and open-minded people of India so that you could correct a simplistic image, which — in my opinion — is particularly unsuitable for a professor and teacher,” the ambassador added.
Words ‘taken out of context’
The professor was quick to apologize.
“It was never my intention to make a defamatory comment about Indian society. I do not have anything against Indian students — on the contrary, I sincerely apologize to anyone whose feelings I may have hurt,” she said, according to a statement posted on the website of the University of Leipzig.
Beck-Sickinger, however, insisted she didn’t turn down the Indian student’s application on the grounds of violence against women in his home country, and insisted her comments had been taken out of context.
“I never wrote the mail in this way, it has been put together from individual segments taken from different mails,” the statement said.
Beck-Sickinger said the student was turned down because there were “no openings available in the laboratory.”
“I am by no means racist or xenophobic in any way,” she added.
The university statement said she did mention the problem of “women in India being raped” in her discussions with the candidate.
