Germany: Professor denies Indian internship citing his country's 'rape problem'

A professor at the Leipzig University in Germany has apologised after denying an Indian male student an internship due to his country's "rape problem".

The professor, Annette Beck-Sickinger, offered an apology after her email refusing the student an internship surfaced over social media.

In the email, Beck-Sickinger said she did not, "accept any Indian male students for internships [due to] the rape problem in India.

"I have many female friends in my group, so I think this attitude is something I cannot support."

The unidentified student replied to the professor requesting the reasoning behind her, "painful generalisations [and] hurtful words," reported The Times of India.

Disappointed by the incident, Germany's ambassador to India, Michael Steiner, wrote a letter to the professor, "strongly disapproving of her discriminating generalisations against male Indian students."

The professor in turn apologised in a statement published on the German embassy website saying: "I have made a mistake. I sincerely apologise to everyone whose feelings I have hurt."

The incident has sparked outrage on social media with one user criticising BBC's documentary, India's Daughter, for encouraging his country to be wrongfully branded as a nation of rapists.