Harvard’s campus has been rocked by an allegation of hate speech by a young Harvard College student.
Police say 20-year-old student Jhumpa Lahiri has been charged with harassment for his posts on social media, which included a link to an article published on the Harvard Daily News, a Harvard-owned newspaper.
Lahiri, a student in the Department of Communication and Media Studies, had posted the article on Twitter in March, saying he wanted to “make a statement” about India’s anti-Islam laws.
The article, titled “India’s anti Islam laws make me want to kill myself” and titled “Pakistan and Bangladesh have the right to live as they please,” said that the laws had made it hard for Indians to live in their own country and that “people in India are living in a nightmare of fear.”
Lahiris account was later taken down.
The Times of London, the largest English-language news and information website in India, said it had received several complaints about Lahiri’s tweet, but did not have details on who he was or what his motivation was.
The university is investigating the matter, a spokeswoman said.
The Associated Press news agency reported that Lahiri was a recent graduate of Harvard College.