The Madhya Pradesh High Court has sent a notice to the state government seeking its response on a writ petition filed by the Head of Department, Anthropology at Dr Harisingh Gour University for being forced to withdraw from an international webinar following an unprecedented warning from the police over the proposed presence of “anti-national” speakers.
The university, popularly known as Sagar University since it’s located in Sagar district, had to withdraw from the webinar titled ‘Cultural and Linguistic Hurdles in the Achievement of Scientific Temper’ that was scheduled for July 30-31 this year. The webinar was jointly organised by Montclair State University, US and included Gauhar Raza, former chief scientist CSIR, and Professor Apoorvanand, University of Delhi as prominent speakers.
The writ petition was filed by Professor Rajesh Kumar Gautam, HoD Anthropology at the university, after Superintendent of Police, Sagar District Atul Singh wrote to university vice-chancellor on the eve of the webinar, saying the organisers could be booked under Section 505 of the IPC if the event led to law and order problem.
The university also faced pressure from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to withdraw from the virtual conference. Objecting to the invitation accorded to Professor Apoorvanand and Gauhar Raza, ABVP district convenor Shreeram Richaria wrote to the V-C, threatening to file an FIR.
The university and the petitioner, Professor Gautam, eventually withdrew from participation, with the latter moving court.
In his petition, Professor Gautam said he was subjected to “mental agony and embarrassment” and was also “deprived of the opportunity to add to his academic score under the Academic Performance Indicator, which is counted during promotion as per UGC Regulations and for which one of the criterion is the number of academic seminars/ webinars organised.”
“A habit cannot be made out by State authority to accept any version of events made out by any group (political or non-political) to try and censor speech and academic seminars. As a result, the Petitioner finds himself severely restricted in his academic freedoms and feels a general ‘chilling effect’ on speech and actions,” it added.
The petitioner feels he has been “defamed and insulted at the hands of the Respondents. The Petitioner also being a Scheduled Caste individual has been discriminated against in the most illegal and arbitrary manner by the Respondents,” the petition further said.
Praying for relief, Professor Gautam in his petition said the SP’s letter to the vice-chancellor should be declared arbitrary and illegal.
The court has granted the state government three weeks to file its reply.
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