The Director of Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B), Subhasis Chaudhuri, in an email to students reacted to the recent controversies that have plagued the college starting with a leaked video of a virtual talk on the Israel-Palestine conflict by theatre director and actor Sudhanva Deshpande at the institute which has led to a protest staged outside the college. The email was leaked in a post on X by @AppscIITb.
In the email, Chaudhuri writes that the protest saw slogans of 'death to the traitor' being raised.
The protest, which was organized by Vivek Vichar Manch, Maharashtra, raised slogans and placards against Deshpande and a faculty member from IIT-B’s Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) department.
Chaudhuri wrote,” Such actions, potentially putting the life of a faculty member at risk, are completely unacceptable regardless of what was said in class.” He also wrote that the institution is working to ensure the safety of their faculty in consultation with their security office.
Along with this, Chaudhuri wrote that they are appointing a fact-finding committee to look into the action of the students and to find out what happened in the HSS class where Deshpande joined virtually.
Chaudhuri also mentioned that the institute is working on a policy for organizing public events or lectures, and a code of conduct for students, faculty and staff, to avoid such issues in future.
A student from the college who attended Deshpande's talk said that there is already a policy in place, but it is never followed. “Even when prof reiterated policy against recording, it was never followed,” they said. They added that they hope the fact finding committee takes appropriate action in relation to the student who released the video (of Sudhanva Deshpande’s talk) which was taken out of context.
Another student from the HSS who attended the talk by Deshpande mentioned that the word ‘Hamas’ was never said in the talk. They added that they were now scared of having any discussion in relation to the Israel-Palestine conflict because it could lead to them being labeled ‘anti-national’.
The student also said that the HSS has submitted a petition to the Head of the Department, Pooja Purang, with demands of taking actions against the student who had recorded the talk by Deshpande and that illegal recordings with professor’s consent must be prohibited. The petition also says that cancelling lectures that are needed for student’s academic enrichment is a dangerous practice and should be stopped immediately. The petition has been signed by 50 students from the HSS department.
A lecture on the Israel-Palestine conflict by writer and academician Achin Vanaik was cancelled by IIT-B following social media posts describing him as a ‘Hamas sympathiser’.
