Condemnation of the mob attack on Professor Sanjay Kumar, Department of Sociology, MG Central University, Motihari Bihar

By Dilip -
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. 

(177) 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 

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