Put an end to vicious witch hunt: Historians, academics come out in support of Jindal prof Sameena Dalwai

“Autocratic regimes fear critical thinking and educators that foster it. In the series of relentless attacks on Indian universities, Prof. Sameena Dalwai is the latest,” they said.

It called the action by the Haryana State Commission For Women charging her with harming the dignity of women an utter travesty. “Ironically, the Haryana Women’s Commission has charged Sameena Dalwai for outraging the dignity of women, while completely ignoring the battle against sexual harassment by women wrestlers of Haryana,” the statement reads.

Dalwai was accused by Renu Bhatia, the chairperson of the women’s body, of showing some dating profiles to students during a lecture on gender.

“As a public intellectual writing in English and Marathi, she consistently highlights the discrimination against labouring poor, Dalits and minorities,” they said.

The statement mentions the origin of the problem to be from an email exchange on November 7, 2023, about Palestine “shared within the university faculty that was leaked to the trolls”. “Dalwai was targeted as being “Hindu-phobic’ even though her email called for tolerance of opposing ideological views within the safe space of universities,” they said.

The statement said the class from which the video was leaked was an activity for the topic ‘Desire, sexuality and gender’ within the subject ‘Gender and Society’ that Dalwai teaches to third-year law students.

“The dating app was used as an innovative teaching tool to practically appreciate how attraction and dating, just like marriage, follow the identity markers of caste, class, religion, skin colour, and languages,” it said, adding that it was recorded by miscreants in class, without the knowledge of the professor and other students, and was shared on social media in November following the email exchange.

“The Haryana Women’s Commission picked up this video and decided to investigate. They visited the university, elicited student responses without university administration being present, and then held a media spectacle in which Prof Dalwai was declared guilty,” the statement said.

The statement added O P Jindal Global University is a reputed private university in India, and by succumbing to political pressure has set a “damning precedent for future attacks on academic freedom”. It said it was troubling to see that “the university did not follow any due process to establish truth, innocence or guilt”.

“Without any enquiry or an opportunity to defend herself, Dr Dalwai was served a show cause notice and thereafter a warning on twin charges of harming the dignity of women and discrimination of students on a religious and ideological basis,” it said.

Observing how this turned into “a vicious political agenda,” the statement said the X posts became evidence, emotive language replaced logic, and confidential university documents were posted on social media.

They said they are dismayed that discussions of sexuality or politics are assumed to harm the dignity of women or discriminate against students. “The educator’s job is to introduce students to uncomfortable truths of the world, to empower them to critically engage with the socio-political issues surrounding them, especially while teaching law students who are adults, citizens and future officers of law,” said the statement.

They also said the FIR was filed against Prof Dalwai without a single student complainant and asked authorities in Haryana, including the police and judiciary, “to put an end to this vicious witch hunt”.