The college discussion board of the Indian Institute of Expertise Bombay on Tuesday issued an announcement supporting a professor who has been receiving threats on social media and cellphone requires allegedly backing Palestinian militant group Hamas.
This got here after a bunch of scholars filed a grievance in opposition to the professor, Sharmistha Saha, and visitor lecturer Sudhanva Deshpande for allegedly glorifying the militant group, reported India Right this moment.
The allegations pertain to the screening of a documentary movie titled Arna’s Kids as a part of an ongoing postgraduate course on November 6. Deshpande, a theatre director and actor, was invited to introduce the relevance of the movie.
In keeping with the college discussion board, Deshpande has labored with The Freedom Theatre, which is the main target of the movie. The Freedom Theatre was based by two theater personalities and is located in Jenin, West Financial institution.
In its assertion, the college discussion board mentioned it’s distressed by threats to Saha and makes an attempt to tarnish her popularity. “The allegations made in social media about her supporting Hamas or terrorists are based mostly on misinformation and falsehood,” it mentioned. “The college discussion board of IIT Bombay firmly expresses its help to our colleague.”
The discussion board mentioned {that a} pupil, who was not part of the category, began recording the lecture session on his cellphone. “The course teacher informed him to not document the lecture, and to depart the category, however he refused to cooperate and as a substitute spoke to her aggressively,” mentioned the discussion board.
It added: “The recording [which was made despite her explicit denial] was put up on social media posts and was additionally proven on some TV channels.”
The discussion board additionally mentioned that Saha was unable to reply to Deshpande’s feedback within the class “due to the intimidating ambiance prevailing”.
The grievance in opposition to Saha and Deshpande has been filed by a pupil named Omkar Supekar, who has demanded {that a} first data report be registered in opposition to the accused. He has alleged that Deshpande glorified former militant Zakaria Zubeidi and Ghassan Kanafani, a deceased Palestinian creator and politician, and in addition defended armed riot.
On Saha, Supekar alleged she “inappropriately used her place to ask Deshpande” to the screening. He additionally described Deshpande as a “radical leftist”.
Following the screening, protests had been held outdoors the institute on November 11 beneath the aegis of the Vivek Vichar Manch, an organisation that claims to unfold “consciousness in regards to the acts of Islamic terrorism”, amongst different issues.
“Right this moment’s protest was to indicate our help to the scholars who’re elevating their voices in opposition to the pro-terrorism statements and views expressed by visitor lecturers and college members on the Humanities and Social Science division,” Ashok Tidke from Vivek Vichar Manch was quoted as saying by The Indian Categorical.
‘Disinformation marketing campaign’: Deshpande
In an announcement issued on November 9, Deshpande had condemned the “disinformation marketing campaign” being run in opposition to him by information channel Instances Now.
“I had been requested by Professor Saha to introduce a 2004 documentary movie, Arna’s Kids, made by Juliano Mer Khamis, an Israeli Jewish filmmaker, actor and theatre director,” he mentioned. “One of many characters within the movie is Zakaria Zubeidi. Zakaria Zubeidi is a former navy commander of the armed wing of Fatah, the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. Fatah is the political get together based by Yasser Arafat.”
Deshpande mentioned he had referred to Zubeidi in his lecture as a “visionary” due to the conversion he had with him. Within the dialog, Zubeidi “envisaged a future the place your entire territory of historic Palestine can be a single nation, during which ALL its residents – Arabs, Jews, Christians, and others – would have equal rights”, Deshpande mentioned.
He went on to say that in a present on November 8, Instances Now referred to him as a “Hamas apologist” and Zubeidi as a “Hamas terrorist”
“Zubeidi was by no means a member of Hamas, as claimed on air by Instances Now,” mentioned the filmmaker. “I mentioned nothing that glorified Hamas. Actually, I didn’t even point out Hamas in my discuss.”