Bucket Of Water Thrown At Historian Irfan Habib During Event In Delhi
A bucket filled with water was thrown at historian S Irfan Habib during a student-organised literature festival at Delhi University on Wednesday.
A video of the incident, which is now circulating on social media, shows water being thrown at Habib while he was speaking near Gate 4 of the Arts Faculty.
Absolutely atrocious that @irfhabib saab was attacked today for just speaking his mind. And this is in the heart of Delhi University. It’s not easy for historians who go out there and freely advocate the cause for Indian history and education, brave of Irfan saab to continue his… pic.twitter.com/0LD2ItxDhC
— Dr Ruchika Sharma (@tishasaroyan) February 12, 2026
The event was part of the ‘People’s Literature Festival: Samta Utsav’, organised by the All India Students’ Association (AISA).
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Habib said he was standing just outside the boundary wall when the bucket was thrown from the other side. “The bucket did not hit me, but the water fell on me. It was shocking. The bucket could have contained anything,” he told The India Express.
AISA alleged that members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) tried to disrupt the event. However, ABVP denied the allegation and called the charges baseless.
The Delhi University administration said it has not received any official complaint regarding the incident.
The festival included discussions on caste, equality, and higher education reforms. Despite the disruption, organisers said the event continued as planned.
Syed Irfan Habib (born 1953) is an Indian historian of science and public intellectual. He completed his postgraduation in modern Indian history and later earned a doctorate focusing on the ideology and programme of revolutionaries during the 1920s freedom struggle.
He taught at DAV (PG) College, Bulandshahr, before joining the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi, where he worked from 1984 to 2009.
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During the 1990s, he collaborated with historian Dhruv Raina, leading to several important publications on the history of science in colonial India, including the book Domesticating Modern Science (2004).
He later served as the Abul Kalam Azad Chair at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration from 2009 to 2016. Habib has written and edited several respected works on the social and cultural history of science in India.
