“Distressed With The Tarnishing Of The Reputation And Physical Threats To Prof Sharmistha Saha”: IIT Bombay Faculty Forum
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay Faculty Forum released a statement regarding a recent incident happened in the campus involving a faculty member. The Faculty Forum of IIT Bombay said it is absolutely distressed with the tarnishing of the reputation and physical threats to Prof. Sharmistha Saha via anonymous phone-calls, and posts on social media platforms.
On November 11, IIT Bombay witnessed protest outside its main gate demanding action to be taken against the professor and a guest speaker for allegedly glorifying terrorism while talking about Palestine and Israel. A few students from the institute approached Powai police station with a written complaint for allegedly expressing their views which supported Hamas and “terrorists”.
The protesters also claimed that Mr. Deshpande has glorified Zakaria Zubeidi who is alleged to be a part of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is alleged to be recognised as a designated terror organisation by several countries.
“The allegations made in social media about her supporting Hamas or terrorists are based on misinformation and falsehood,” the Forum said.
The Faculty Forum firmly expressed its support to Prof. Sharmistha Saha of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences of IIT Bombay.
The statement detailed the happenings of the day and mentioned facts about the incident based on the Forum”s detailed discussion with the professor.
It said a documentary film titled “Arna’s Children” was screened by her as a part of an ongoing post-graduate course, due to its relevance in the art of healing children who have gone through trauma. This film and the scheduled discussion thereafter had been relevant to the course.
And then added that Arna’s Children is a 2004 documentary film about The Freedom Theatre founded by two Jewish theater personalities (Arna Khamis and Israeli actor/film-maker Juliano Mer Khamis). The film has won several awards at international levels and is also freely available on YouTube.
The statement also said Mr. Sudhanva Deshpande was invited as a guest speaker for introducing the relevance of the film to the audience, and for the post-screening discussion. He is a theater personality, and is currently associated with Jana Natya Manch (JANAM), which has collaborated in the past with The Freedom Theatre.
According to the Forum, during a regular class of the course, a student, who was not part of the course, started recording the lecture session on his mobile device. The course instructor told him not to record the lecture, and to leave the class, but he refused to cooperate and instead spoke to her aggressively.
“During the entire session, our colleague neither expressed any opinion about terrorism nor did she express any opinion about HAMAS. She was not able to respond either to the film or to the comments made by Mr. Deshpande because of the intimidating atmosphere prevailing in the class,” the statement added.
The Forum added that the recording (which was made despite her explicit denial) was put-up on social media posts and was also shown on some TV channels. Further, a gathering of people outside IIT Bombay Main gate was organized on Saturday, 11 November, 2023, in which people shouted slogans and carried large hoardings containing the name and photographs of our colleague. They shouted slogans mentioning our colleague as a traitor, issuing death-threats to her, and calling for her termination from service at IIT Bombay.
The Faculty Forum of IIT Bombay condemned the calls to violence against the professor, use of her photograph and name in the hoardings, tarnishing her reputation in print, TV and social media through biased information and false claims that she supports Hamas and terrorism.
The Faculty Forum of IIT Bombay is a formal body of the institute, through which faculty members at IIT Bombay can voice opinions to the institute and other bodies.
