I became a victim of unfair media trial: Kaustubh Deka
Guwahati: The faculty member of Assam’s Dibrugarh University who said to have accidentally screened pornography during a live programme, denied the allegations and stated that the online programme was “Zoombombed”.
The faculty member, an assistant professor of the Dibrugarh University, Kaustubh Kumar Deka also stated that he had become a victim of a conspiracy and a completely unfair ‘media trial’.
In a post responding to the reports, Deka wrote, “I have become a victim of a conspiracy and a completely unfair ‘media trial’ as some completely false allegations have been levelled against me, all those which I completely deny.”
He added that on March 20, 2022, at 7:30 PM, he was invited as a speaker on a Webinar organised by the platform ’15 MINITOT XIKHYA’, a forum run by mostly US-based Assamese academics.
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“The programme got over by 9 and by 9.30/10 pm News in a certain Assamese News Channel begun to circulate that I have shown pornographic content as slides during my lecture!”, he added.
He further wrote, “I dare anyone to prove it and I am hundred per cent open to any investigation/forensic analysis of my laptop and all other devices for the same. I have already lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime cell and I’m hopeful that the truth will be out very soon.”
He while sharing some facts on the programme stated that no such slides of any pornographic material were shared from his end or his laptop.
“A forensic investigation will establish it. In fact, I was completely unaware of the whole episode”, he added.
Deka also stated that he completed the webinar with long rounds of discussions until news reports of him “supposedly showing pornographic content” had already reached certain media sources, within a span of maybe 5-10 minutes of the Webinar getting over.
The second point raised by him was that a screenshot of the Webinar was being circulated that shows an objectionable page being displayed with his face on the side of it.
He added that he became a victim of something which is known as ‘Zoombombing’.
It has been a common practice by internet trolls who would usually enter online meetings and then create disturbance usually in an obscene way.
Deka claimed that he became the target of the trolls.
“Mind you, it was a Webinar attended by hundreds of college students of Assam with the links being widely shared. Now we are gathering more information on participation rights, pattern from the organisers, as well as, asking it from Zoom as part of the Cyber Crime investigation. So that IP address etc. can be traced”, he wrote.
Deka also added that after he had started his slides during the presentations, the slide show got stuck and he had to log out and log in again to continue.
The third point he explained was that there were eyewitness accounts who are willing to testify that they have seen a suspicious account by the name ‘F**k You’.
The said account had shared that objectionable screen, which was online for some 5-6 seconds before disappearing.
He added that the same suspicious accounts with fake names also disturbed the webinar throughout. T
He in the post further added, “That there were repeated obscene noise (moaning sounds), someone shouting at me two-three times ‘F**k you Sir’ etc and the organisers had to keep muting them and requesting them to behave. In fact, at one point, someone with a foreign accent also apologised for the behaviour saying that the user has autism.”
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Deka terming the incident to be a well-thought conspiracy, said that he is open to all investigations.
“I fully deny all the false and baseless allegations imposed on me by an unfair ‘media trial’. It is very unfortunate that the media channel didn’t even wait 30 minutes to verify the facts, speak to either the organisers or me and went ahead with the terrible slander and character assassination of me”, he added.
Deka also added, “The incident was also an assault on the institution of Dibrugarh University as they have repeatedly presented it as misconduct of an assistant professor from Dibrugarh University. Truth has become a victim of sensationalism once again.”