India: Text of statement by academics and concerned citizens against the assault on Prof Sanjay Kumar, in Motihari (Champaran, Bihar)

As sociologists, social scientists and concerned individuals across the world, we strongly condemn the brutal mob assault on 17 August 2018, on sociologist Sanjay Kumar at Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Motihari, Bihar.

This particular trend of mob violence directed at dissenting voices in various university/college campuses of late has become ‘normal’. Teachers have been targeted and abused on account of their political opinions and social position. In particular, because of the nature of the social sciences where we engage with contemporary society, social scientists have come under attack. As per media reports, the complicity of the office of the Vice-Chancellor, M G Central University, Motihari in the macabre attack on Sanjay Kumar cannot be ruled out. We unequivocally demand the effective intervention of the Government of Bihar to probe the dastardly act and provide all necessary legal and medical help to the victim.

We appeal to all university teachers, students and citizens at large to ensure the safety and civility of our campuses and ensure there is space for open discussion.

Signatories:

1. Abhijit Kundu, Sri Venkateshwara College, University of Delhi.
2. Rajni Palriwala, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
3. Nandini Sundar, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
4. Sujata Patel, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Simla, Former President, Indian Sociological Society 5. Gyan Prakash, Princeton University.
6. Arjun Appadurai, New York University
7. Geetha Nambissan, Zakin Husain Centre, JNU
8. Satish Deshpande, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi
9. Tulsi Patel, Retired Faculty, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics.
10. Nabanipa Bhattacharya, SVC, University of Delhi
11. Surinder S. Jodhka, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
12. Renny Thomas, Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi
13. Sudha Vasan, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
14. Roma Chatterjee, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
15. Vikramendra Bardhan, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi
16. Mala Kapoor Shankardass, Maitreyee College, University of Delhi
17. Reema Bhatia, Miranda House, University of Delhi
18. Vinod K. Jairath, Department of Sociology, University of Hyderabad
19. Sunil Babu, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
20. Nasreen Fazalbhoy, Ex. Faculty, Bombay university
21. Sanjay Srivastava, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi
22. Ruby Bharadwaj, JDMC, University of Delhi.
23. Farhana Ibrahim, IIT, Delhi.
24. Anjali Bhatia, LSR, University of Delhi.
25. A.R. Vasavi, Social Anthropologist, Bengaluru.
26. Bharati Jaganathan, Delhi University
27. Shoma Choudhury Lahiri, St Xavier’s College, Kolkata
28. Bedabrata Pain, Ex NASA Scientist and Filmmaker
29. Sophia Abbas, Yale University
30. Sanjay Kumar, Delhi University
31. Sanjay Srivastava, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi.
32. Rajshree Chandra, Delhi University
33. Arnav Das Sharma, Delhi University
34. Pushpendra Kumar, TISS Mumbai
35. Purushottam Agarwal, JNU
36. Kamal Nayan Choube, Delhi University
37. Amita Baviskar, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi
38. Prakash Upadhyaya, Researcher, New Delhi
39. Ananya Vajpeyee, CSDS, Delhi
40. Kham Khan Suan Hausing, Hyderabad Central University
41. Brita Ohm, University of Bern
42. Srila Roy, University of Wittswatersrand
43. Nida Kirmani, LUMS
44. Dirk Moses, The University of Sydney
45. Ali Javed, Delhi University
46. Snigdha Kumar, University of Minnesota
47. Mohan Rao, JNU
48. Kalpana Wilson, Birkbeck College University of London
49. Ravi Kumar, South Asia University
50. Anjali Arondekar, University of California, Santa Cruz
51. Rohit De, Yale University
52. Pradip Kumar Bose, CSSS, Calcutta
53. Zaheer Baber, University of Toronto
54.. Kusum Lata, Jamia Millia Islamia
55. Dilip Menon, University of Wittswatersrand
56. Ashima Mittal, Delhi University
57. Malvika Kasturi, University of Toronto
58. Shubhadeepta Ray, Tezpur University
59. Vipul Mudgal, CSDS
60. Tariq Thachil, Vanderbilt University
61. Manuela Ciotti, Aarhus University, Denmark
62. Surajit Mukhopadhyaya, Amity University, Raipur.
63. Basabi Chakrabarty, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata
64. Samuel Asir Raj, M. S. University, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu
65. Vijayalakhsmi Brara, Manipur University
66. Kunal Chattopadhyay, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
67. Kalpana Kannabiran, CSD, Hyderabad
68. Elena Heisnam, University of Delhi
69. Radhika Chopra, DSE, University of Delhi
70. Ishita Dey, Ambedkar University, Delhi
71. Gita Chadha,University of Mumbai
72. Ravinder Kaur, IIT, Delhi
73. Neshat Quaiser, Retired Faculty, JMI Central University, Delhi.
74. Amman Madan, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru
75. Janaki Abraham, DSE, University of Delhi
76. Meenakshi Thapan, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
77. Reva Yunus, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru.
78. Amar Singh, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru.
79. Vikas Maniar, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru
80. Ashok Prasad, Colorado State University
81. Deepak Mehta, Ex Faculty, DSE, University of Delhi
82. Mujibur Rehman, JMI Central University, Delhi
83. Ish Mishra, Delhi University
84. Shubh Mathur, Independent Scholar
85. Rukmini Sen, Ambedkar University, Delhi.
86. Soma KP, Researcher
87. Shantha Sinha, Former Chairperson, NCPCR, GOI
88. Radhika Menon, University of Delhi
89. Prathama Banerjee, CSDS, Delhi
90. Nicolas Jaoul, CNRS, Paris
91. Shagufta Kaur Bhangu, University of California Berkeley
92. Francis Cody, University of Toronto
93. Suguna Pathy, Retired Professor, V N South Gujarat University
94. Prakash Kashwan, Assistant Professor at UConn
95. Bhangya Bhukya, University of Hyderabad
96. Geeta Patel, University of Virginia, Charlotsville
97. Leki Thungon, University of Delhi
98. Rama Vasudevan, Colorado State University
99. Aftab Alam, University of Delhi
100. Paola Bachetta, University of California, Berkeley
101. Sarbani Sharma, JMC, University of Delhi.
102. Geetha J Sodhi, SVC, University of Delhi
103. Nandita Dhawan, Jadavpur University, Kolkata.
104. Ashwini Deshpande, Department of Economics, Delhi University
105. Abhishek Kaicker, University of California, Berkeley
106. Rana Behal, University of Delhi
107. Karen Coelho, MIDS, Chennai
108. Shadan Farasat, Advocate
109. Kavita Srivastava, PUCL, Jaipur
110. Shastri Ramchandran, Journalist
111. Kamal Shukla Journalist
112. Rohit Prajapati, Vadodara
113. Panini Anand, journalist
114. Purwa Bhardwaj, Niranter, Delhi
115. Omita Goyal, IIC
116. Smita Gupta
117. Chitaroopa Palit, Bhopal
118. Daljit Ami, Independent Filmmaker
119. Rahul Ram, Musician
120. Sripad Dharmadhikary, Manthan
121. Madhushree Mukerjee, Writer
122. Kiran Shaheen
123. Zarina Bhatty, writer
124. Anil Mishra, Journalist
125. Vidya Subramanian, The Hindu Research Centre
126. Neha Sharma, Yoga Instructor
127. Saba Dewan, Documentary Film-maker
128. Noor Zaheer, IPTA
129. Jitendra Kumar, Greenpeace
130. Shubhranshu Chowdhury, journalist
131. Indu Prakash Singh, Delhi
132. Indrani Mukherjee
133. SP Udayakumaran, Tamil Nadu
134. Bela Bhatia, Independent Researcher
135. Sri Prakash, film-maker
136. Prafulla Samantara, Odisha
137. AS Vasantha Kumari
138. Anikendra Sen, journalist
139. Goldy M. George, Raipur
140. Lina Krishnan, writer, Bangalore
141. Enakshi Ganguly, Haq Child Rights
142. Vineet Tiwari, Joshi Adhikari Institute
143. Sonia Jabbar, Delhi
144. Arundhati Ghosh
145. Sunit Arora, Livemint
146. Gurpreet Siddhu, Designer
147. Sarajini Nadimpalli, Sama, Delhi
148. Ravi Shukla, IT Consultant
149. Rini Simon Khanna, Journalist
150. Anu Mandavilli, San Jose Peace and Justice Centre, USA
151. Lalita Ramdas, Former Board Chair at Greenpeace International
152. Divya Pathak, Ranchi
153. Seema Azad, Allahabad
154. Manish Kunjam, Akhil Bharatiya Adibasi Mahasabha
155. Savi Kolla, Advocate, Hyderabad
156. Usha Varadarajan, Delhi
157.. Shome Basu, Consulting Editor, The Wire
158. Madhavi Kuckreja, CEO and Founder, Sanatkada
159. Mimi Choudhury, Delhi
160. Mona Kothari-Dikshit, Delhi
161. Amitabha Pande, Noida
162. Taru Dalmia, BFR Sound System, The Sky Vengers, New Delhi
163. Sheila Kumar, Author Journalist, Delhi
164. Zulaikha Jabeen, New Delhi
165. Jyoti Punwani, Mumbai
166.. Asad Zaidi, Three Essays Collective, Gurgaon
167. Sujata Madhok, New Delhi
168. Manoj Mitta, Noida
169. Vani Xaxa, New Delhi
170. Vrinda Gopinath, journalist
171. Zulaikha Jabeen, FSSSCTC
172. Sheila Kumar
173. Taru Dalmia, Word Sound Power
174. Rakesh Sharma, filmmaker
175. Indu Chandrasekhar, Publisher
176. Sumita Mehta, Delhi
177. Hiren Gandhi
178. Sudhanva Deshpande, New Delhi