Jadavpur University in Kolkata on Wednesday barred from teaching the professor who compared virgin women to “sealed bottles”, ANI reported. Kanak Chandra Sarkar is a professor at the university’s Department of International Relations.

“In view of the recommendation of the student-teacher committee of the department, Professor Kanak Sarkar is divested of his teaching duties with immediate effect,” read a note signed by Omprakash Mishra, the head of the department. “Substitute arrangements would be decided in the meeting of the Board of Studies scheduled on January 18, 2019.”

“Are you willing to buy a broken seal while purchasing a bottle of cold drink or a packet of biscuits?” Sarkar said in a Facebook post on Sunday. “A girl is born sealed from birth until it is opened. A virgin girl means many things accompanied with values, culture, and sexual hygiene. To most boys virgin wife is like angel.” He later deleted the post but stood by his statement and said the Constitution guarantees him the freedom of speech and expression.

The National Commission for Women on Monday took suo motu cognisance of Sarkar’s statement on Monday and said it has written to the university’s vice-chancellor against the “objectionable statement and the misogynist lesson”. Jadavpur University Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das also condemned the professor’s comments.

Several students staged protests on Tuesday demanding Sarkar’s expulsion. A day earlier, they had submitted a complaint to Mishra, requesting him to bar Sarkar from taking classes. “They [students] have claimed that he [Sarkar] made misogynistic and patriarchal comments which offended many students,” Mishra had then said. “As a department, we do not value regressive and medieval narrative on women and their role in the society. Such comments and views are unfortunate.”