A college professor in India is facing possible legal action after lecturing that women will give birth to transgender children if they "dress like men."

Dr. Rajith Kumar, who teaches botany at the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrith in Kerala, made the controversial comments during a recent "awareness" class, Times of India reports.

"If mothers wear jeans and shirts and dress like men, they will beget children who are transgenders," Kumar told students.

Kumar also claimed that children with autism and cerebral palsy “are born to parents who are not of good character.”

The state government in Kerala is now seeking to bar Kumar from teaching. "The government is mulling initiating legal action against him," says Keralan health minister K K Shailaja in a statement. "He has been propagating superstition and making anti-women remarks continuously."

The Hindu reports that there are 4.8 million transgender people in India, which is about 0.4% of the total population. Following a 2014 Indian Supreme Court ruling that transgender people have the right to self-identify their gender, a proposed bill aims to give trans Indians equal rights in society.