In a powerful show of solidarity, 260 distinguished academicians from India and around the world have signed a petition addressed to the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, urging her intervention in the case of Somenath Sow, a first-year post-graduate (MA) student at Visva-Bharati University (VBU). “Somenath Sow, a first-year post-graduate (MA) dalit student at Visva-Bharati. Somenath was suspended for his expression of support on social media for Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen in a land controversy,” reads the letter.
The petition, supported by a list of 260 eminent signatories, including academics like Amit Bhaduri, Utsa Patnaik, Akeel Bilgrami, John Harriss, James Boyce, P Sainath, Abha Dev Habib and Prabhat Patnaik, calls upon President Murmu to protect Somenath's academic journey and address this matter of utmost importance.
Somenath's academic journey has been marred by suspensions, rustications, and harassment, allegedly at the hands of Vice-Chancellor (VC) Bidyut Chakrabarty. According to the petition, the contents of Somenath's Facebook post were as follows: "The information provided by the official records of the Department of Land and Land Reforms [Government of West Bengal] states that a 1.38-acre plot of land is owned by Professor Amartya Sen's father, Ashutosh Sen." This land was recently mutated under Professor Amartya Sen's name. The post continues, "...Visva-Bharati has not been able to produce documents for the additional 0.13-acre land and will not be able to do so."
The court granted a stay order in favour of Professor Sen, undermining the grounds for Somenath's suspension, which was allegedly for spreading "false/misleading information."
The petition also emphasises that Somenath's suspension lacked a formal letter of complaint and chargesheet, raising concerns about due process. The academicians cite a court's decision that Visva-Bharati does not possess the power to suspend students, yet Somenath was suspended, implying a disregard for the court's decision. It also highlights a history of alleged personal vendetta by VC Bidyut Chakrabarty against Somenath, involving rustications, interruptions in the admission process, and repeated suspensions.
