Sanjay Kumar at PMCH on Monday.; Picture by Manoj Kumar | Image courtesy The Telegraph
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. Maitrayee Chaudhuri, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University
9. Satish Deshpande, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi
10. Tulsi Patel, Retired Faculty, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics.
11. Nabanipa Bhattacharya, SVC, University of Delhi
12. Surinder S. Jodhka, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
13. Renny Thomas, Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi
14. Sudha Vasan, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
15. Roma Chatterjee, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
16. Vikramendra Bardhan, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi
17. Mala Kapoor Shankardass, Maitreyee College, University of Delhi
18. Reema Bhatia, Miranda House, University of Delhi
19. Vinod K. Jairath, ex-Department of Sociology, University of Hyderabad
20. Sunil Babu, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics
21. Nasreen Fazalbhoy, ex.-Department of Sociology, Bombay University
22. Sanjay Srivastava, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi
23. Ruby Bharadwaj, JDMC, University of Delhi.
24. Farhana Ibrahim, IIT, Delhi.
25. Anjali Bhatia, LSR, University of Delhi.
26. A.R. Vasavi, Social Anthropologist, Bengaluru.
27. Bharati Jaganathan, Delhi University
28. Shoma Choudhury Lahiri, St Xavier’s College, Kolkata
29. Bedabrata Pain, Ex NASA Scientist and Filmmaker
30. Sophia Abbas, Yale University
31. Sanjay Kumar, Delhi University
32. Amita Baviskar, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi
33. Rajshree Chandra, Delhi University
34. Arnav Das Sharma, Delhi University
35. Pushpendra Kumar, TISS Mumbai
36. Purushottam Agarwal, JNU
37. Kamal Nayan Choube, Delhi University
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. Subhadeepta 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, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi
76. Meenakshi Thapan, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University
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, Ashoka University
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, Charlottesville
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. Pushpesh Kumar, Department of Sociology, Hyderabad Central University
108. Karen Coelho, MIDS, Chennai
109. Shadan Farasat, Advocate
110. Kavita Srivastava, PUCL, Jaipur
111. Shastri Ramchandran, Journalist
112. Kamal Shukla Journalist
113. Rohit Prajapati, Vadodara
114. Panini Anand, journalist
115. Purwa Bhardwaj, Niranter, Delhi
116. Omita Goyal, IIC
117. Smita Gupta
118. Chitaroopa Palit, Bhopal
119. Daljit Ami, Independent Filmmaker
120. Rahul Ram, Musician
121. Sripad Dharmadhikary, Manthan
122. Madhushree Mukerjee, Writer
123. Kiran Shaheen
124. Zarina Bhatty, writer
125. Anil Mishra, Journalist
126. Vidya Subramanian, The Hindu Research Centre
127. Neha Sharma, Yoga Instructor
128. Saba Dewan, Documentary Film-maker
129. Noor Zaheer, IPTA
130. Jitendra Kumar, Greenpeace
131. Shubhranshu Chowdhury, journalist 132. Indu Prakash Singh, Delhi
133. Indrani Mukherjee
134. SP Udayakumaran, Tamil Nadu
135. Bela Bhatia, Independent Researcher
136. Sri Prakash, film-maker
137. Prafulla Samantara, Odisha
138. AS Vasantha Kumari
139. Anikendra Sen, journalist
140. Goldy M. George, Raipur
141. Lina Krishnan, writer, Bangalore
142. Enakshi Ganguly, Haq Child Rights
143. Vineet Tiwari, Joshi Adhikari Institute
144. Sonia Jabbar, Delhi
145. Arundhati Ghosh
146. Sunit Arora, Livemint
147. Gurpreet Siddhu, Designer
148. Sarajini Nadimpalli, Sama, Delhi
149. Ravi Shukla, IT Consultant
150. Rini Simon Khanna, Journalist
151. Anu Mandavilli, San Jose Peace and Justice Centre, USA
152. Lalita Ramdas, Former Board Chair at Greenpeace International
153. Divya Pathak, Ranchi
154. Seema Azad, Allahabad
155. Manish Kunjam, Akhil Bharatiya Adibasi Mahasabha
156. Savi Kolla, Advocate, Hyderabad
157. Usha Varadarajan, Delhi
158. Shome Basu, Consulting Editor, The Wire
159. Madhavi Kuckreja, CEO and Founder, Sanatkada
160. Mimi Choudhury, Delhi
161. Mona Kothari-Dikshit, Delhi
162. Amitabha Pande, Noida
163. Taru Dalmia, BFR Sound System, The Sky Vengers, New Delhi
164. Sheila Kumar, Author Journalist, Delhi
165. Zulaikha Jabeen, New Delhi
166. Jyoti Punwani, Mumbai
167. Asad Zaidi, Three Essays Collective, Gurgaon
168. Sujata Madhok, New Delhi
169. Manoj Mitta, Noida
170. Vani Xaxa, New Delhi
171. Vrinda Gopinath, journalist
172. Zulaikha Jabeen, FSSSCTC
173. Sheila Kumar
174. Taru Dalmia, Word Sound Power
175. Rakesh Sharma, filmmaker
176. Indu Chandrasekhar, Publisher
177. Sumita Mehta, Delhi
178. Hiren Gandhi
179. Sudhanva Deshpande, New Delhi
