Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA), the premier institute of communication in Ahmedabad has suspended its Associate Professor Pravin Mishra after allegations of sexual assault surfaced against him under the current ongoing #MeToo movement that has taken the country by storm. In her post on Facebook, the woman has accused Pravin Mishra of assaulting her in his house.
She says that she worked part-time with Pravin’s father in law and when she spoke up, Pravin Mishra’s father in law made him and her sit across as ‘talk it out’. “This opportunity was afforded to me because then there would be no need for a police complaint and because it was the best I could hope for: a measly, coerced, half-hearted, apology from a predator embarrassed out of his wits,” she said in her post.
Taking cognisance of her allegations, MICA has initiated an inquiry against him. He has been placed under suspension until completion of the inquiry. Mishra, however, has claimed that he has not been informed of the assault complaint against him and hence he has no response on the same.
Mishra is the same MICA professor who was a regular contributor on ‘truthofgujarat.com’, a portal run by anti-Modi activist Mukul Sinha which claimed complicity of state machinery during 2002 riots. The portal was accused of spreading misleading information and was countered by portals like gujaratriots.com. He has also written for various publications like ThePrint and Firstpost.
Mishra, who is currently under suspension, has donned various hats. Back in 2002, as a student of NID (National Institute of Design), he had designed Narendra Modi’s campaign vehicle, and five years later, decided to contest against Modi from Maninagar constituency as a candidate from New Socialist Movement (NSM), an offshoot of Mukul Sinha’s Jan Sangharsh Manch, who was also contesting 2002 Gujarat elections.
Then, like many other Dalit rights’ activist, in 2016, Pravin Mishra suddenly became a Dalit rights activist after the Una incident, where Dalit youths were allegedly beaten up by cow vigilantes. Mishra, at that time, had claimed that Dalits are not allowed in 98% of temples in Gujarat, a statement he could not back with facts.
Dalits are not allowed in 98% of the temples in Gujarat: Pravin Mishra, Dalit Activist #NewsToday
— India Today (@IndiaToday) August 2, 2016
And some days, when he is perhaps bored, he participates in trending hashtags on Twitter, thereby joining the esteemed league of hashtag activists.
Mishra also is an artist and is known for creating posters, including the logo and cover image for altnews.in and various human rights causes.
