A University of Leipzig professor, whose refusal to grant an internship to an Indian student because of his country’s “rape problem” caused public outrage, issued an apology for her statements, The Times of India reported.
“I have made a mistake,” German Professor Annette Beck-Sickinger said, according to a statement uploaded on the website of the German embassy in India. “I sincerely apologise to everyone whose feelings I have hurt,” she added.
Her rejection email to the student opened with the line, “Unfortunately I don’t accept any Indian male students for internships,” and went viral on Sunday. “We hear a lot about the rape problem in India which I cannot support,” the email continued. “I have many female students in my group, so this attitude is something I cannot support,” her email concluded.
The rejection also drew the attention of Michael Steiner, Germany’s ambassador to India.
“Let me make it clear at the outset that I strongly object to this,” Steiner said in a letter to Beck-Sickinger. The ambassador commended India’s “lively, honest, sustained and very healthy public debate” around sexual violence, and the government’s commitment to dealing with the problem.
“Let’s be clear: India is not a country of rapists,” the letter continued adding that “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.”
After the documentary pertaining to the Delhi gang rape case of 2012 was banned from being broadcast by the Indian government, the widespread issue of sexual assault has become a sensitive issue in South Asia.
