Open Letter to DU VC

To

The Vice Chancellor, 

University of Delhi 

Date : 1st April 2023

Sir,

This is to express our anguish over the news of punishment, of varying degrees, to some students of the university for having screened a documentary produced by the BBC. The memorandum regarding the punishment, as published in the media, states that they had violated the ban on screening of the said documentary by the government of India. We want to bring to your notice and it is known to all that the documentary was never banned and is still not banned by the government. So, the ground for disciplinary action does not exist. 

The letter says that the students should have taken permission from the authorities 24 hours prior to any demonstration. It is just possible that this condition was not met by the students. But had they done something so serious that the university should take away from them the right to appear in examinations? Had they damaged university property or caused physical violence? 

We need not tell you that university is supposed to be a space where students and teachers feel free to get information from any source, decide for themselves and express themselves freely. They are adults and can take decisions for themselves. We, teachers and administrators are not here to police their thoughts or censor their sources of information. The only condition we all must follow while exercising this right is that it should not promote hatred and violence. But the documentary was only a critical examination of the present regime in the context of the situation of Muslims. How could its screening by some students become a threat to order on the campus is beyond our understanding.

Even if the university authorities felt that their order for prior permission was not adhered to, the punishment given is disproportionate to the alleged violation by the students. Their screening had not caused any violence or disturbance. Had the security personnel not interfered with the screening and stopped it forcefully it would have passed peacefully. 

We therefore feel that in light of the facts regarding the lawful status of the documentary and the right of the students to get information and have a free discussion on the campus, the university authorities should withdraw the orders penalising the students involved in the screening of the BBC documentary. It is our duty , as university community to make campus a safe space for the students to engage in critical thinking. It is needless to say that it is not the job of the university to defend the government or disallow thoughts critical to it. We hope that our concern would be heard and the said punishment order would be withdrawn. 

Thanking you, 

Sincerely Yours

India Academic Freedom Network

List of Signatories

1. Apoorvanand, Department of Hindi, University of Delhi

2. Satish Deshpande, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi

3. Nandini Sundar, Department of Sociology,University of Delhi

4. Shahana Bhattacharya, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi

5. Bharati Jagannathan, Miranda House, University of Delhi

6. Ira Raja, Department of English, University of Delhi

7. Naina Dayal, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi

8. Janaki Abraham, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi

9. Anil Kumar, University of Delhi

10. C Saratchand, Satyawati College, University of Delhi

11. Renu Bala, DTF

12. Rudrashish Chakraborty, Department of English, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi

13. Jyoti Sabharwal, University of Delhi

14. Rupali Bhardwaj, University of Delhi

15. Abha Dev Habib, Miranda House, University of Delhi

16. Debjani Sengupta, IP College, University of Delhi

17. Tanvir Aeijaz, University of Delhi

18. Sucharita Sen, Jawaharlal Nehru University

19. Kausik Bhattacharya, Department of Philosophy and Comparative Religion, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, W.B.

20. Sneha Sharma, Ramjas College, University of Delhi

21. Neeraj Malik, Indraprastha college, University of Delhi

22. Imrana Naseem, Professor

23. Sudipta Bhattacharyya, Professor, Dept of Economics & Politics, Visva-Bharati

24. Ambar Ahmad, Kamala Nehru College, University of Delhi

25. Avinash Kumar, Faculty, Jawaharlal Nehru University

26. Mallikarjun Sajjan, All India University Employees Confederation

27. Manas Maity, Professor, Visva-Bharati University

28. Mallikarjun Sajjan, All India University Employees Confederation

29. Shikha Kapur, Academic

30. Dr Para Dholakia, University of Delhi

31. Rahul Govind, University of Delhi

32. Sanghamitra Misra, University of Delhi

33. Bilasini Naorem, Miranda House, University of Delhi

34. Bharati, Associate Prof (retd)

35. Nandita Narain, St Stephen's College, University of Delhi

36. Vijaya Venkataraman, University of Delhi, University of Delhi

37. Trisha Gupta, Professor, Jindal School of Journalism and Communication

38. Ashwini Kumar, DUTA

39. Girwar Singh, AISEC

40. Karen Gabriel, St Stephen's College, University of Delhi

41. Savithri Singh, University of Delhi

42. Dr. Uma Shankar, Zakir Husain Delhi College, University of Delhi

43. Khalid Ashraf, Retired Teacher

44. Rajni Palriwala, Retd. University of Delhi

45. Prem Kumar Vijayan, Hindu College, University of Delhi

46. Dr Rachna Singh, Hindu College, University of Delhi

47. Pramod Ranjan, Assam University

48. Harbans Mukhia, Formerly Jawaharlal Nehru University

49. Poonam Kaushik, Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan Delhi

50. Dr. S.K. Chauhan, Hindu College, University of Delhi

51. Dr. Joseph Tharamangalam, PhD., Mount St.Vincent University, Halifax, Canasa.

52. Sanjay Kumar Misra, Department of English, R.B.S. College, Agra

53. Satyam Varma, Rahul Foundation

54. Pramod Yadava, Superannuated Professor

55. Nisha Biswas, Feminists in Resistance

56. Rohan D'Souza, Kyoto University

57. Shamsul Islam, Former faculty University of Delhi (Satyawati College)

58. Walter Fernandes, NESRC

59. Ghanshyam Shah, Retired Prof. Jawaharlal Nehru University