We have watched with disgust and horror the brutal police assault on students during a peaceful demonstration organized by four Left students’ organizations on 2nd April, 2013 in Kolkata and the subsequent death of Sudipta Gupta, a participant in the demonstration, while in police custody. Sudipta was a bright student and a leading activist of the Students’ Federation of India. We are shocked to see the Chief Minister of the state absolve the police of any responsibility for Sudipta’s death before a proper enquiry had even been initiated. We do not perceive this incident as an isolated one but rather as the egregious culmination of a series of systematic attacks on the civil and democratic rights of the academic community in West Bengal over recent months. We strongly condemn this unprovoked singular attack on a peaceful students’ demonstration and the subsequent custodial death of Sudipta Gupta. We demand an immediate and impartial enquiry into the incident.
Signatories:
1. Parthiba Basu
Associate Professor, Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta
2. Gautam Gangopadhyay
Associate Professor, Department of Physics, University of Calcutta
3. Selvyn Jussy
Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Calcutta
4. Gautam Gupta
Professor, Department of Economics, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
5. IndraneelDasgupta
Professor, Economic Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta
6. Binayak Dutta-Roy
Former Professor, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta
7. SubimalSen
Former Professor, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics Calcutta, and Former Chairman, WBSHEC
8. Ratan Khasnobis
Professor, Department of Business Management, University of Calcutta
9. Dinesh Abrol
Chief Scientist, National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies, Delhi
10. Indu Agnihotri
Professor and Director, Centre for Women’s Development Studies, Delhi
11. S. Anandhi
Associate Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai
12. G. Arunima
Associate Professor, Centre for Women’s Studies, Jawaharlal NehruUniversity, Delhi
13. Bijay Bal
Former Scientist, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta
14. Sudipta Bandyopadhyay
Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, University of Calcutta
15. Arindam Banerjee
Assistant Professor, School of Liberal Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi
16. Taposik Banerjee
Assistant Professor, School of Liberal Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi
17. Sharmistha Banerjee
Head, Department of Business Management, University of Calcutta
18. Sumit Kumar Baruya
Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
19. ChannaBasavaiah
Professor, Department of Political Science, Osmania University, Hyderabad
20. PadmanavaBasu
Professor, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta
21. Saumyajit Bhattacharya
Associate Professor, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi
22. Sukanta Bhattacharya
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Calcutta
23. Sudipta Bhattacharya
Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Politics, Visva-Bharati, Shantiniketan
24. Abhijit Bhattacharya
Associate Professor, Department of Physics, University of Calcutta
25. Dwaipayan Bhattacharya
Fellow in Political Science, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta
26. Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya
Assistant Professor, School of Liberal Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi
27. Kaushik Bhattacharya
Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
28. Saswata Bhattacharya
Assistant Professor, Department of Bengali, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
29. Kamales Bhaumik
Former Professor, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta
30. Parthasarath iBhaumik
Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
31. Kaberi Chakraborty
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Calcutta
32. Satyabrata Chakraborty
Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Calcutta
33. Amitava Chakraborty
Associate Professor, Department of Modern Indian Languages & Literary Studies, University of Delhi
34. MahalayaChatterje
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Calcutta
35. Apurba Kumar Chattopadhyay
Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Politics, Visva-Bharati, Shantiniketan
36. Suchetana Chattopadhyay
Assistant Professor, Department of History, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
37. Arijit Chaudhuri
Honorary Visiting Professor, Applied Statistics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta
38. ShibaniChaudhury
Professor, Department of Environmental Studies, Visva-Bharati,Shantiniketan
39. Chirashree Dasgupta
Associate Professor, School of Liberal Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi
40. Samantak Das
Associate Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
41. Kandarpa Das
Professor and Director, Institute of Distance and Open Learning, Guwahati University
42. Surajit Das
Assistant Professor, School of Liberal Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi
43. Jayati Das
Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
44. SumangalaDamodaran
Associate Professor, School of Development Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi
45. Malabika Das Gupta
Honorary Associate, Centre for Urban Economic Studies, Department of Economics, University of Calcutta
46. AnindyaDatta
Associate Professor, Department of Physics, University of Calcutta
47. Shantanu De Roy
Visiting Faculty, Ambedkar University, Delhi
48. RanjeetaDutta
Assistant Professor, Department of History, JamiaMilliaIslamia, Delhi
49. SanjuktaGanguly
Former Professor, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta
50. Kuntal Ghosh
Assistant Professor, Machine Intelligence Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta
51. Aditi Ghosh
Senior Lecturer, Department of Linguistics, University of Calcutta
52. Aurnab Ghose
Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune
53. AsimanandaGoswami
Professor, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta
54. Biswajit Haldar
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and Politics, Visva-Bharati, Shantiniketan
55. Arun Jana
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, North Bengal University, Siliguri
56. Debnarayan Jana
Associate Professor, Department of Physics, University of Calcutta
57. Abdul Kafi
Assistant Professor, Department of Bengali, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
58. GuruprasadKar
Professor, Physics and Applied Mathematics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta
59. Dipak Kesh
Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
60. Sushil Khanna
Professor, Strategic Management Group, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
61. Ayesha Kidwai
Professor, Centre for Linguistics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
62. AnirbanKundu
Professor, Department of Physics, University of Calcutta
63. Abhijit Kundu
Associate Professor, University of Delhi
64. Pradip K. Mahapatra
Reader, Department of Chemistry, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
65. Shaswati Mazumdar
Professor, Department of Germanic and Romance Studies, University of Delhi
66. Surajit Mazumdar
Associate Professor, School of Liberal Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi
67. MritiunjoyMohanty
Professor, Economics Group, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
68. Debi Prasad Mishra
Professor, Institute of Rural Management, Anand, Gujarat.
69. Ishita Mukhopadhyay
Professor, Department of Economics, University of Calcutta
70. Surajit Mukhopadhyay
Registrar, National University of Juridical Sciences, Calcutta
71. Maitreyee Nandy
Professsor, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta
72. Amitava Pal
Associate Professor, Institute of Agriculture, Visva-Bharati,Shantiniketan
73. Debabrata Pal
Visiting Faculty, Ambedkar University, Delhi
74. Parthapratim Pal
Associate Professor, Economics Group, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
75. Subrata Pal
Professor, Biotechnology, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
76. Rajni Palriwala
Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi
77. Archana Prasad
Associate Professor, Centre for Jawaharalal Nehru Studies, JamiaMilliaIslamia, Delhi
78. M Rajivlochan
Professor, Department of History, Punjab University, Chandigarh
79. V.K. Ramachandran
Professor, Economics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore
80. Manas Ray
Fellow in Cultural Studies, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta
81. Rahul Roy
Professor, Theoretical Statistics and Mathematics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi
82. JyotiSabharwal
Senior Lecturer, Department of Germanic and Romance Studies, University of Delhi
83. Himansu Charan Sadangi
Reader and HOD, Sociology, Govt Autonomous College, Bhawanipatna
84. Maitreyee SahaSarkar
Professor, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta
85. Pranab Sarkar
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Visva-Bharati, Shantiniketan
86. Sukhendu Sekhar Sarkar
Professor, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Howrah
87. BhupenSarmah
Professor and Director, Omiyo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development, Guwahati
88. Sucharita Sen
Associate Professor, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
89. Sharmistha Sen
Associate Professor, ZakirHussain College, Delhi
90. Jayeeta Sharma
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
91. Anup Sinha
Professor, Economics Group, Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata
92. Rajyeswar Sinha
Assistant Professor, Department of Bengali, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
93. Janaky Sreedharan
Professor, University of Calicut, Kerala
94. Vamsi Vakulabharanam
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Hyderabad
95. PranabBasu
Professor, Department of Economics and Politics, Visva-Bharati, Shantiniketan
96. Arindam Bhattacharya
Assistant Professor, University of Calcutta
97. Sanjay Bohidar
Associate Professor, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University
98. Rudrashish Chakraborty
Assistant Professor, Kirori Mal College, Delhi University
99. Vibha Maurya
Professor, Department of Germanic and Romance Studies, Delhi University
100. VijayaVenkataraman
Associate Professor, Department of Germanic and Romance Studies, Delhi University
101. Abhai Maurya
Professor, Department of Slavonic & Finno-Ugrian Studies, Delhi University
Good initiative, but the saddest part about ‘concerned academicians’ in this list is that half of them will jump ship if they are asked to condemn the rape and killing Tapasi Malik of CPM members.
http://sanhati.com/news/307/
Selective solidarity is an advanced art-form. For those who condemn the killing of both Tapasi and Sudipto, it is importantly to ask your company – where do they stand.
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Delhi University restricts freedom of movement for its women hostellers. In West Bengal students are attacked because they subscribe to a different ideology. Kashmiri students are assaulted in Delhi and are termed as anti nationals. While the best thing we can do is demand ‘immediate and fair enquiry’ from the powers that be who have absolutely no intention of being fair. When ever I read about civil liberties being trampled upon the only reaction I hear is that people condemn it and write letters.
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Recent past is an indicator that this blog post is in no way going to convince Didi and her TMC goons from launching an “impartial enquiry”. This fight against hooligans of Hooghly will have to be fought on a much larger platform! Worst part – There is No Alternative, it is not like CPI cadres are saintly characters. I think, there really are no solutions to the muddle that Bengal is.
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Why did these people jump to the coclusion that there was brutal police assault when there is no evidence except some (fabricated?) statements of interested parties who are out to createchaos & lawlessness.
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