IIT Bombay Faculty Forum condemns misinformation, threats against professor
IIT Bombay professor Sharmistha Saha had been reciving “threats”, following accusation that she invited a “Hamas supporter” during a film screening.
Divyansh | November 14, 2023 | 05:32 PM IST
NEW DELHI: The Faculty Forum of IIT Bombay has come in support of department of humanities and social sciences professor Sharmistha Saha who has been allegedly receiving threats through anonymous phone-calls and on social media platforms.
Shah has been receiving threats after some students of Indian Institute of Technology raised objections against her for inviting theatre actor Sudhanva Deshpande during the screening of a documentary film ‘Arna’s Children’ on November 6. They alleged that Deshpande supported HAMAS during the event. A student has also filed a police complaint against Deshpande and Shah.
The professor also had to face protest from some students on November 11. The Faculty Forum of IIT Bombay said it is absolutely distressed with the tarnishing of the reputation and physical threats to one of their colleagues. The forum termed allegations made against Shah on social media platforms regarding her support for HAMAS or terrorists as misinformation and falsehood.
Forum's findings
It added that they had a detailed discussion with her on the matter of the documentary screening. The forum came to know that the documentary ‘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 were relevant to the course, the forum said. Arna’s Children is a 2004 documentary film about ‘The Freedom Theatre’ founded by two Jewish theater personalities Arna Khamis and Juliano Mer Khamis.
The forum added that its member also came to know that Sudhanva Deshpande, who was invited as a guest speaker, is a theater actor with Jana Natya Manch (JANAM) and has collaborated in the past with ‘The Freedom Theatre’.
The forum also found that the during the screening of documentary a a student, who is not part of the course, recorded the session on his mobile phone. When the course instructor objected to the recording and asked the student to leave the class, he refused to cooperate and became “aggressive”.
No opinion expressed
The forum said, “During the entire session, our colleague neither expressed any opinion about terrorism nor regarding HAMAS. She was not able to respond either to the film or to the comments made by Deshpande because of the intimidating atmosphere prevailing in the class.”
Also Read | IIT Bombay denies ‘food segregation policy’ on campus in reply to RTI plea
The recording made during the documentary screening was shared on social media platforms. It was then shown on some TV channels and the incident was also reported in online and print publications.
The faculty forum has condemned the calls for violence against Shah and use of photograph and name in hoardings. The members have also condemned thea action of tarnishing Shah’s reputation in print, TV and social media through “biased information and false claims that she supports HAMAS and terrorism”.
Earlier, IIT Bombay had cancelled former head of political science at Delhi University Achin Vanaik’s proposed talk on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Vanaik was expected to speak on the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict and its effect on the recent outbreak of violence.
Follow us for the latest education news on colleges and universities, admission, courses, exams, research, education policies, study abroad and more..
To get in touch, write to us at news@careers360.com.
Next Story
]Featured News
]- ‘New Disease’: Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar and 16 politicians whose children studied abroad
- ICAR paves way for multiple exits, exam reforms in agriculture courses
- NMC drops LGBTQ reference from CBME guidelines for MBBS; will review disability component
- Bihar: Post-Matric, NMMS scholarships late for thousands due to tech glitches, manpower shortage
- ‘Attack on Autonomy’: Education ministry seeks presence in DU, other central university executive councils
- Universities UK blueprint flags growing reliance on fee income from foreign students, suggests global strategy
- Delhi University plans to favour interdisciplinary courses over honours ones by 2047
- Empty classrooms, dubious admissions: Murshidabad’s B.Ed college boom a cause for concern
- Stanford University’s list of top scientists must not be misused to win perception battles, says JNU Professor
- NEET Counselling 2024: Close to 1,500 ‘convert’ to NRI quota for MBBS admissions