Non-Partisan Judicial Inquiry into wilful police inaction in Delhi: 358+ Academics

Statement on the anti-Muslim pogrom in the capital demands accountability

Delhi Violence

Over last few months we have witnessed a reawakening of the democratic ethos led by Muslim women all across the country.  These near-uninterrupted protests against the passage of the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and it’s bigoted twins, the NPR and NRC, have clearly not gone down well with the BJP government, and many attempts have been made at demonising and discrediting the protesters.

The culmination of this barrage of vile and hateful propaganda was when BJP leader Kapil Mishra issued an ultimatum to the protesters in Delhi on 23 February, 2020 warning of the dire consequences that were to follow if the protest sites were not cleared.  He did so in the presence of a senior police officer. This was followed the same afternoon by an eruption of violence instigated by fanatical right-wing mobs in the areas of Jafrabad and Maujpur. The violence quickly spread to other parts of north east Delhi [1], and the death toll has risen to over 40 [2].

Courageous reportage and heart-breaking eyewitness accounts of the affected areas paint a very clear picture of the nature of this violence: it is anti-Muslim, and are not, as the mainstream media has continued to paint it, composed of “clashes” between “pro-CAA” and anti-CAA camps. Extremist Hindutva rioters mobilised by upper-caste leaders have run amok in the national capital, setting fire to and vandalising cars and shops and homes belonging to Muslim families, and also schools and mosques [3], all the while mercilessly brutalising Muslim residents of these areas [4]. 

It is clear to us that this comprehensive breakdown of law and order, which comes on the heels of the sickening attacks on students in Jamia, AMU, and JNU, is happening with the complicity of the Delhi police, who are acting in near-perfect coordination with the right-wing mobs, either by actively assisting them or by turning a blind eye to their actions [5]. We also regard it as no coincidence that the Delhi High Court judge who called the Delhi police to account for its willful inaction was transferred on the same day he held the emergency hearings [6]. We are, in short, witnessing the unfolding of an anti-Muslim pogrom in Delhi, with eerily familiar echoes of the modus operandi deployed by the RSS and it’s affiliates eighteen years ago in Gujarat, and more recently in Uttar Pradesh [7].

The violence has claimed the lives of many innocents, most of them from marginalised sections of society, including daily wage labourers, auto-rickshaw drivers, a police head constable, and an intelligence official. There have been deaths across religious divides. We place the blame for all these deaths squarely on the fascist upper-caste Hindutva forces who have orchestrated this pogrom. We also emphatically appeal to fellow progressive-minded individuals to recognise that there is a world of a difference between the violence of these fanatical mobs and attempts made to defend one’s life, family, home, and livelihood against this violence. We stand firmly in solidarity with the affected families in this regard—there are no two sides to this story, there is no nuance, only senseless violence fuelled by the communal agenda of the upper-caste Hindu right-wing.

We, the undersigned academics, condemn in the strongest possible terms those aiding or abetting the various indignities visited on Muslim men and women in Delhi by these right-wing terrorists affiliated to the RSS and sister organisations.

We also protest the reprehensible manner in which this government has conducted itself, by dropping all pretense of functioning in a democratic manner and acting blatantly as a ministry run by the RSS.

We demand that a judicial inquiry be set up to investigate the actions of the Delhi police, as reportage, video footage, and eyewitness accounts clearly point to their complicity in the violence.

We appeal to the judiciary to ban terrorist organisations like the Bajrang Dal which, as always, were at the forefront of this pogrom and which have been emboldened under the Modi regime.

We finally demand that the state immediately and adequately compensate those whose houses, shops, and livelihoods have been destroyed.

 

[1]: Hindu supremacist mobs orchestrate violence against Muslims where BJP won in Delhi elections | The Caravan

[2]: Delhi riots: Death toll rises to 42, 148 FIRs registered | The Economic Times

[3]: Delhi violence: Three mosques targeted, school burnt, shops & homes looted | The Indian Express

[4]: Hindu mobs terrorise Vijay Park’s residents | The Caravan

[5]: Delhi violence: Cops shouted “Jai Shri Ram” with armed Hindu mob, charged at Muslims | The Caravan

[6]: HC Judge Who Pulled Up Delhi Police Over Riots Shunted Out by Modi Govt | The Wire

[7]: Why Delhi violence has echoes of the Gujarat riots | BBC News

 

(The institutional affiliations of the signatories are provided for identification purposes only and do not indicate the official positions of these institutions. The form is still open. We will continue to update this form over the next few days.)

 

Signatories

1

Alok Laddha

Chennai Mathematical Institute

2

Madhusudhan Raman

TIFR

3

Subramanya Hegde

Harish-Chandra Research Institute

4

Aneesh P B

Chennai Mathematical Institute

5

Arpan Kundu

IMSc

6

Rahul Dandekar

IMSc, Chennai

7

Arnab Priya Saha

Harish-Chandra Research Institute

8

Manu

Chennai Mathematical Institute

9

Aditi Dudeja

Rutgers University

10

Soumya Chattopadhyay

ISI Kolkata

11

Biswajit Sahoo

Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI)

12

L L Ganesh Chandra

Harish Chandra Research Institute

13

Kornikar Sen

Harish-Chandra Research Institute

14

Gokul Nanda

IIT Madras

15

Subham Dutta Chowdhury

TIFR

16

Saran V

IIT Madras

17

Pranjal Nayak

University of Geneva

18

Ramadas N

Chennai Mathematical Institute

19

Aditya Banerjee

Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

20

Soniya biswas

Hebrew university

21

Rivu Gupta

HRI

22

kinjal banerjee

BITS Pilani, Goa Campus

23

Purnata G

IIT Madras

24

Prashant Kocherlakota

Institute for Theoretical Physics, Frankfurt

25

Aranya Bhattacharya

SINP, Kolkata

26

Satyaki Chakravarty

University of North Carolina Greensboro

27

Ritabrata Bhattacharya

CMI

28

PAVAN DHARANIPRAGADA

IMSc

29

Abhishodh Prakash

ICTS-TIFR

30

Bithika Karmakar

Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics

31

Soumyadip Bandyopadhyay

BITS Goa

32

Adhip Agarwala

ICTS

33

Ronak M Soni

Stanford University

34

Tathagata Sengupta

Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education

35

Deepshikha Jaiswal-Nagar

IISER Trivandrum

36

Sudipto Acharyya

Whistling Woods International

37

Sharad Raj

Whistling Woods International

38

Adwitee Roy

Chennai Mathematical Institute

39

Pratik Roy

Chennai Mathematical Institute

40

Arya Bhattacharyya

IIT Kharagpur

41

ANUPAM A H

imsc chennai

42

Indrani

BITS Pilani, Goa Campus

43

Bobby Ezhuthachan

RKMVERI

44

Anupama Potluri

University of Hyderabad

45

Himanshu Badhani

IMSc Chennai

46

Praveen

IIT Bombay

47

Rupsa bhattacgarjee

IIT Delhi

48

DSOUZA Florence

Lecturer in English, University of Lille, France

49

Rajkamal Srivastava

Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics

50

Sajad Ahmad Bhat

Saha Institute of nuclear physics

51

Amit Upadhyay

Assistant Professor, TISS Hyderabad

52

Anusuya

CSMCRI

53

Shilpaa Anand

BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

54

Karen Gabriel

St Stephen’s College

55

Aswathy Raveendran

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

56

Resmi Lekshmi

Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology

57

Gourab saha

SINP, Kolkata

58

Sounak Biswas

University of Oxford

59

Padma Velaskar

Professor (retd) TISS Mumbai

60

T Sobha Rani

University of Hyderabad

61

Panchami Jose

HBCSE,TIFR

62

Chandrashekar KA

The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai

63

Ishan Santra

Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

64

Jyotirmoy Dey

IIST TVM

65

Soumangsu Chakraborty

TIFR, Mumbai

66

Rossi D’Souza

HBCSE TIFR

67

Asweel ahmed

IMSC Chennai

68

Subham Rath

Alumni IISc, Bangalore

69

Rekha Mammen

TISS

70

Fahad

IMSc chennai

71

Vaibhav Vaish

IISER Mohali

72

Debatri Chattopadhyay

CAS, Swinburne

73

Naveen Surendran

IIST, Thiruvananthapuram

74

Sayantan Datta

TIFR Hyderabad

75

Amrita Sengupta

Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics

76

Diksha dhar

KL University

77

Anannya Bohidar

University of Pennsylvania

78

Gurinder Singh

HBCSE

79

Husna Hasan CA

Pondicherry University

80

Asma Saifudeen

INSERM

81

Bikram Kumar Jena

Asst. Professor in Anthropology (OES – 1), Model Degree College, Deogarh

82

Arghya Chattopadhyay

Institute of Mathematical Sciences

83

Aditya Sharma

BITS-Pilani

84

Shrikrishna Dani

TIFR (Retired)

85

Ashruf Syed

IIT Madras

86

Pramath A V

HRI

87

Ajijur Rahaman

CSIR-JRF

88

Parvati Shastri

Retired Professor MU

89

Guruprasad Kar

Professor, ISI, Kolkata

90

S.K.Venkatesan

TNQ Technologies

91

C. Lakshmanan

Dalit Intellectual Collective

92

Dr. Mostaid Ahmed

The Neotia University

93

Aparajay

MIDS, Chennai

94

Mahuya Datta

Indian Statistical Institute

95

Muthukumar M

Acharya Institute of Technology Bangalore

96

Abhishek Shaw

Doctoral Student, IIM Ahmedabad

97

Suman Guha

Presidency University, Kolkata

98

Kuntal Ghosh

Indian Statistical Institute

99

Sangeeta Ghosh

ISID, New Delhi

100

Usman

Tata institute of Social sciences Mumbai

101

TATHAGATA GUPTA

Indian Statistical Institute

102

Dr. Munmun Biswas

Brahmananda Keshab Chandra College under West Bengal State University

103

Anirban Mukherjee

S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences

104

SAMUEL ASIR RAJ S.

Professor, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli

105

ALTHAF

IIT Madras

106

Anurag Tiwari

Tata institute of fundamental research

107

Minerva Mukhopadhyay

IIT Kanpur

108

Saikat Das

Raman Research Institute, RRI

109

Madiha

TISS

110

Arunabha Saha

University of Geneva

111

MOHAMMED ZAFAR ANIS

Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta

112

Panchali Banerjee

Jadavpur University

113

Ritam Bhaumik

INRIA Paris

114

Saswata Sahu

IIEST Shibpur

115

Komal Salecha

Sophia College

116

Shamik Das

IIT Guwahati

117

Tanmoy Mondal

HRI

118

Chandan Singh Dalawat

Harish-Chandra Research Institute

119

Md. Abhishek

Harish-Chandra Research Institute

120

MD AFSAR REJA

HRI

121

Taniya Mandal

IISER Bhopal

122

Sachin Grover

HRI

123

Sucheta Majumdar

Université Libre de Bruxelles

124

Atanu Haldar

ONGC

125

Nirmalya Kajuri

Chennai Mathematical Institute

126

Dr. Abu Saleh

Raja Peary Mohan College (University of Calcutta)

127

Parul Keshari

Harish Chandra Research Institute

128

Md. Israfil

Social Worker at Right Track

129

Sidhartha Samtani

University of Padua

130

Jayita Lahiri

HRI, Allahabad

131

Md Abu Taher

University of Hyderabad

132

Sarbajaya Kundu

University of Sherbrooke

133

Mahendra G Nadkarni

Emeritus Professor, Department of Mathematics,university of Mumbai

134

Prof. A. R. Khuda Bukhsh

Retd. Professor Emeritus of UGC, University of Kalyani, Kalyani-741235, WB.India.

135

Sreya Dutta Chowdhury

JNU

136

Preeti

Delhi University

137

Alolika Mukhopadhyay

West Bengal State University

138

Shouvik Datta

University of California, Los Angeles

139

Nairit Sur

NISER

140

Chiranjib Mukhopadhyay

Harish Chandra Research Institute

141

Parthiv Haldar

Indian Institute of Science

142

Anurag Kaushal

TIFR, Mumbai

143

Aradhita Chattopadhyaya

Trinity college Dublin

144

Srajal Nayak

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

145

Shivani Upadhyaya

University of California Berkeley

146

Padmaja Shaw

Rtd Professor, Osmania University

147

aayushi

University of Pennsylvania

148

D Chandrika

TIFR Hyd

149

Saloni Agrawal

University of Edinburgh

150

Shakeel Ur Rahaman

IIT Kanpur

151

DR GUY R JEHU

Trinity College Dublin

152

Alakta Das

IISc, Bangalore

153

Apratim Kaviraj

Ens paris

154

Chetkar Jha

University of Pennsylvania

155

Johannes Aspman

Trinity College Dublin

156

Varuni P

IMSc Chennai

157

Chaitanya Ursekar

Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education

158

Saad Khaleel

Mahatma Gandhi Institute of technology

159

SAKKEEL P T

Pondicherry University

160

Isha Sengupta

University of Pennsylvania

161

Deepikaa Menon

University of Geneva

162

SAIFUL ISLAM

MSQE at ISI

163

Radhika Vathsan

BITS Pilani goa campus

164

Raul Pereira

Trinity College Dublin

165

Jyotishka Datta

University of Arkansas

166

Ajmala Ashraf

IIT Bombay

167

Kesavan

TIFR Hyderabad

168

Saumia

JINR, Dubna

169

Greeshma

Central University of Karnataka

170

Sreemoyee Dasgupta

University of Pittsburgh

171

Pallavi Bhat

University of Leeds

172

Bhawna Pandey

Bose institute

173

Bhanu Pratap Das

Tokyo Institute of Technology

174

Sowmya Dechamma C C

UoH

175

Debangshu Mukherjee

IISER Bhopal

176

Soumyajit Mandal

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

177

Abantika

University of Massachusetts Lowell

178

Shahina Rahman

Texas A&M Univeristy

179

Rathijit Biswas

Bose Institute

180

Abul Qasim

Indian institute of science education and research Bhopal

181

Andrea Orta

Trinity College Dublin

182

Sujatha Surepally

Satavahana University

183

Tapas Mitra

Guru das College, Kolkata

184

Rongili biswas

West bengal education service

185

Theres

Central University of Tamil Nadu

186

Nicolas Lang

Trinity College Dublin

187

Sajesh Vijayan

IISER Thiruvananthapuram

188

SRIKANTH MV

University of Hyderabad

189

Avik Banerjee

Bose Institute

190

Bhangya Bhukya

University of Hyderabad

191

Dhruva Kathuria

Texas A&M University

192

Madhumita Roy

BKC College, kolkata

193

Tanmay Deshpande

TIFR, Mumbai

194

Anjali Krishnan

University of Heidelberg

195

Amit Singh

IIT Bombay

196

Jenny Rowena

Miranda House, University of Delhi

197

Hany Babu

University of Delhi

198

Rudranil Basu

Harvard University

199

Bindu. K. C.

AUD

200

MUHAMMAD ANSHAD V P

Tata Institute of social sciences

201

Soham Bhattacharya

TIFR, Mumbai

202

Satadal Datta

Harish-Chandra Research Institute

203

Utkarsh Bajpai

University of Delaware

204

Sonali Gera

Stony Brook University, New York

205

Aritra Bhattacharya

IMSc Chennai

206

Hasbi

Central university of Tamil Nadu

207

V. Sathish Kumar

Institute of Mathematical Sciences

208

GAYATHRI SURESH BABU

Central University of Karnataka

209

ATREYEE BASU

Mahendraganj High school,Sagar,West Bengal

210

Bindhulakshmi Pattadath

Tata Institute of Social Sciences

211

Abhinav buram

Dr.BRAGMR POLYTECHNIC FOR WOMEN

212

Bijoy Mathew

IISER Thiruvananthapuram

213

Ratheesh

IMSc Chennai

214

Bharati Jagannathan

Miranda House

215

Dr. Alokemoy Basu

Acharya Brajendra Nath Seal College, Coochbehar, WB

216

Nina Morgan

KSU, Georgia

217

Sandra MJ

Central University of Tamilnadu

218

Sania Iqbal Hashmi

Jawaharlal Nehru University

219

Rahna VN

Central University of Tamil Nadu

220

Debaditya Bhattacharya

Kazi Nazrul University, Asansol

221

Nandini Dutta

Miranda House, University of Delhi

222

Feba Rasheed

Ramjas College

223

Sourav Kumar Dey

High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Japan

224

JALEEL

KOCHI, KERALA

225

rohan poojary

SINP

226

SURATNO BASU

CMI

227

Rahana S.R.

Research Scholar at Central University of Tamil Nadu

228

Subhodeep Chatterjee

MAKAUT

229

Lakshmi Menon

VTM NSS College University of Kerala

230

SURATNO Basu

Chennai Mathematical Institute

231

Pranav Jani

The Ohio State University, USA

232

Arpita Nandy

Saha institute of Nuclear physics

233

Soumya Chakrabarti

Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics

234

Ayesha Irfan

Delhi university

235

Rohini Mokashi Punekar

IIT Guwahati

236

Sayandeb Chowdhury

Ambedkar University Delhi

237

Saunak Basu

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

238

Samana Madhuri

Chandrakona Vidyasagar Mahavidyalay, WB

239

Debayudh Chatterjee

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

240

Nupur Samuel

OP Jindal Global University, Sonepat Haryana

241

Dr Rina Ramdev

DU

242

Meenakshi Malhotra

Hansraj college

243

Kopal

AUD

244

Hudha Kauser M.P.

Central University of Tamil Nadu

245

archana barua

IIT guwahati

246

Vasudha Pansare

Retired Professor of English, Bishop Cotton Women’s Christian College

247

Anandita De

UC Davis

248

Chirashree Das Gupta

JNU

249

T R Vishnu

CMI

250

Sunalini

Ambedkar University Delhi

251

Nalini Iyer

Seattle University

252

Noduli Pulu

DU research scholar

253

Manas Mandal

IMSc, Chennai

254

Baidik Bhattacharya

Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi

255

Soham Bose

Ashoka University, Sonipat

256

Lavanya K

Central University of Tamil Nadu

257

Dr Rashmi Varma

University of Warwick

258

Siva Shakthi A.

IISER Thiruvananthapuram

259

Suniti Madaan

JNU, alumnus, DU, Assistant Professor

260

Saad Khaleel

Mahatma Gandhi Institute of technology

261

Swapnil Bhowmick

Harish Chandra Research Institute.

262

Lata Kharkwal

University of Innsbruck

263

Nisarga R

TISS Mumbai

264

Nirnoy Basak

Harish-chandra Research Institute

265

Sainaba P

Central University of Tamil Nadu

266

Rana Barua

Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata

267

deepani

IIT Bombay

268

Sharae Deckard

University College Dublin

269

Md Mahafujur Rahaman

Aligarh Muslim University

270

Anne Mulhall

University College Dublin, Ireland

271

Porscha Fermanis

University College Dublin

272

Sean O’Brien

Birkbeck, University of London

273

Benu Mohanlal

Ramjas College

274

Audrey Bryan

Dublin City University

275

Akshay

IIT Bombay

276

Hiba Mundott

Farook College Calicut

277

Nick Daly

UCD

278

Vaisakh C P

Institute of Physics of Czech Academy of Science

279

Dara Patricia Downey

Trinity College Dublin

280

Manikandan Sambasivam

IMSc

281

Rajendran Narayanan

Azim Premji University, Bangalore

282

Meghana Rao

Azim Premji University

283

Madhura Lohokare

O. P. Jindal university

284

Ila Ananya

Azim Premji University

285

Sandeep Krishna

NCBS TIFR, Bangalore

286

Shalini Srinivasan

Azim Premji University

287

Alka

ASHOKA University

288

Anand Shrivastava

Azim Premji University

289

Mariam

central university of Tamil nadu

290

Anwesha Chattopadhyay

SINP, Kolkata

291

Afzal shikari

Dch college

292

Avik Paul

SINP, Kolkata

293

Rahul Pandey

Visiting faculty, IIM Lucknow

294

Priyanka Chaturvedi

TLS, Germany

295

Karuna D W

Visiting faculty, Azim Premji University

296

Atreyie Ghosh

University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

297

Sankha Subhra Bakshi

HRI, Allahabad

298

Hanan Kashou

Rutgers University

299

Roshayed Ali Laskar

Nanyang TechnologicalUniversity

300

Sabyasachi Maulik

Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics

301

Rukmini Sen

Ambedkar University Delhi

302

Liza Chowdhury

Columbia University

303

Dr. Kate Houlden

Brunel University

304

Mazhar Syed

Rutgers University

305

Janani

IIT Madras

306

Deepti Goel

Azim Premji University

307

Samah Selim

Rutgers University

308

Sudip Chakraborty

TIFR, Mumbai

309

Biprojit

IIT Madras

310

Dr. Katherine Fama

University College Dublin

311

Athul George

IIT Bombay

312

Danish Hamid

HSS

313

Shivam Sharma

Ambedkar University Delhi

314

Somesh k mathur

IIT Kanpur

315

Sumon Sahu

Syracuse University, US

316

Deepa Kumar

Rutgers University, USA

317

Neeraja

IISER Mohali

318

Professor Richa Nagar

University of Minnesota

319

Manal Habbal

Rutgers University

320

Sonali Dutta Roy

Ambedkar University Delhi

321

Lawqueen Kanesh

IMSc

322

Sibasish Ghosh

The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai

323

Asfa Borbora

TIFR

324

Philip Shields

RIAM

325

Manobina Karmakar

IIT Kharagpur

326

Sayan Dasgupta

IIT Kharagpur

327

Sambo Sarkar

IIT Kharagpur

328

Ubaid Mushtaq

IIT Kharagpur

329

Shakeel

Calicut University

330

Saniya Wagh

TIFR

331

Rweetuparna Guha

WWU Münster, Germany

332

Anindya Raychaudhuri

University of St. Andrews

333

Anustup Basu

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

334

Mousumi Dasgupta

Victoria Institution (College)

335

Shaanta Murshid

University at Buffalo

336

Karunya Shirali

Louisiana State University

337

Amrita Sengupta

IIT Kharagpur

338

Sharmadip Basu

Azim Premji University

339

Roopkatha Das

College

340

Rajib

IISERB

341

Dr. Md. Afsar Ali

Principal, Saheed Nurul Islam Mahavidyalaya, North 24 Pargana, W.B.

342

Sonali Dutta Roy

Ambedkar University Delhi

343

Hrishit

Central University of Jammu

344

Naveena Kumara A

NITK Surathkal

345

Satyaki Mazumder

IISER K

346

Sofia

IIT Bombay

347

Sana Jindani

CSMCRI, CSIR-JRF

348

Jaya

Inosculation hub

349

Bigyan Mukherjee

Vixplor

350

Aditya vyas

Saajha – Maharashtra

351

Dr. Ameer Shah T S

Doctor

352

Dr. Shahul Hameed T M

Doctor

353

Sebin

Advocate

354

Soham Das

Computer engineer

355

Sudipta Dutt

Thermal Plant Engineer

356

S.Karmakar

Doctor

357

NISHTHAR

engineer

358

Tarun Saha

Software Engineer

 

 

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