Statement of Solidarity for Hyderabad Central University from UK-based academics

We, the undersigned, who are UK-based concerned scholars, express our deep dismay over the police brutality directed at students and faculty members of Hyderabad Central University, starting on March 22, 2016. We are alarmed that students and staff calling for justice at the University have had charges pressed against them, have been disappeared from the campus, and that there are reports of assaults on them in custody. We condemn the police presence on campus, the authorities’ denial of water, electricity, and food to those remaining in student accommodation, and the brutal attack on a PhD scholar for cooking in University premises.

These actions, coming in the aftermath of events culminating in the suicide of a Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, constitute a severe assault on democratic rights of free expression and thought, assembly and association. They go against the very purpose of universities as places for critical thinking, and damage the international reputation of HCU. As scholars who admire the work of many academic colleagues and alumni at HCU, we are concerned that HCU seems to be fast descending into a campus of unrestrained repression of dissenting voices among students and staff.

We urge the Vice Chancellor and other University authorities to get rid of the police on campus, to protect its students and staff who have been held in custody and have had charges pressed against them, to bring normalcy to campus, and to assure its staff and students that their freedoms, dignity and rights will always be respected.

1. Dr. Subir Sinha, SOAS, University of 2. Dr. Rashmi Varma, University of Warwick 3. Dr. Alpa Shah, LSE 4. Dr. Jens Lerche, SOAS, University of London 5. Dr. Navtej Purewal, SOAS, University of London 6. Dr. Alessandra Mezzadri, SOAS, University of London 7. Dr. Kalpana Wilson, LSE 8. Prof. Phiroze Vasunia, University College London 9. Dr. Sarah Hodges, University of Warwick 10. Judith Heyer, 11. Dr. Leena Kumarappan, London Metropolitan University 12. Dr. Meeta Rani Jha, London Metropolitan University 13. Somak Biswas, doctoral student, University of Warwick 14. Dr. Lars Peter Laamann, SOAS, University of London 15. Prof. G K Bhambra, University of Warwick 16. Prof. Alfredo Saad Filho, Professor, SOAS, University of London 17. Prof. Mary Kaldor, LSE 18. Prof. Chandak Sengoopta, Birkbeck, University of London 19. Prof. Ben Rogaly, University of Sussex 20. Dr. Paolo Novak, SOAS, University of London 21. Dr. Feyzi Ismail, SOAS, University of London 22. Shreya Sinha, doctoral student, SOAS, University of London 23. Lisa Tilley, University of Warwick 24. Dr. Nicola Pratt, University of Warwick 25. Prof. Venkatesh Chakravarthy, Michigan State University 26. Kanchana N Ruwanpura, 27. Aravinda Meera Guntupalli, Open University 28. Prof. Gerhard Kling, SOAS, University of London 29. Antonia Salib, University of Warwick 30. Krittika Bhattacharjee, University of Edinburgh 31. Gladwin Emmanuel 32. Dr. Veli Yadirgi, SOAS, University of London 33. Dr. Thomas Marois, SOAS, University of London 34. Eleanor Higgs, doctoral student, SOAS, University of London 35. Radhika Govinda, University of Edinburgh 36. Aaron Vansintjan, Birkbeck, University of London 37. Barclay Lane, University of Warwick 38. Mathijs Lucassen, Open University 39. Oyndrila Sarkar, doctoral student, University of Heidelberg 40. Ritanjan Das, University of Portsmouth 41. Aditya Ray, Queen Mary University of London 42. Siobhan McGrath, Durham 43. J Jamie 44. Zakia Salime, Rutgers University 45. Prof. Upamanyu Pablo Mukherjee, University of Warwick 46. Prof. Pasquale Scaramozzino, SOAS, University of London 47. Prof. Barbara Harriss-White, University of Oxford 48. Prof. David Graeber, LSE 49. Ioana Cerasella, University of Birmingham 50. Niyati Sharma, doctoral student, Oxford University 51. Mazen Masri, City University of London 52. John Garrett, American University, Washington DC 53. Yasser Shams Khan, University of Oxford 54. Javed Wani, doctoral student, Royal Holloway 55. Isabelle Guerin, IRD-Cessma, France 56. Prof. Susan Himmelweit, Open University 57. Krithika Srinivasan , University of Exeter 58. Tahoora 59. Dr. Nikita Sud, University of Oxford 60. Baisali Mohanty, University of Oxford 61. Aashique Iqbal, doctoral student, University of Oxford 62. Devanshi Chanchani, University of East Anglia 63. Dr. Laura Bear, LSE 64. Dr. Rahul Rao, SOAS, University of London 65. Dr. Liam Campling, Queen Mary University of London 66. Sean Grover-Richards 67. Dr. Alice Tilche, LSE 68. David Andrew, Queen Mary University of London 69. Dr. Markus Daechsel, Royal Holloway College, London 70. Deepa Kurup, doctoral student, University of London 71. Sanjay 72. Neha Vermani, PhD student, Royal Holloway College, London 73. Prof. Katy Gardner, LSE 74. Prof. Wendy Olsen, 75. Varun 76. Dr. Indrajit Roy, University of Oxford 77. Deepak Padmanabhan, Queen’s University, Belfast 78. Dr. Rohan Deb Roy, University of Reading 79. Anju Christine 80. Prof. Zoe Matthews, Southampton University 81. Dr. Rochana Bajpai, SOAS, University of London 82. Cosimo Zene, SOAS, University of London 83. Laura Tidd, Durham University 84. Prof. Pritam Singh, Oxford Brookes University 85. Srinath Vedal 86. Dr. Aravinda Guntupalli, Open University 87. Abhilasha Joshi, University of Oxford 88. Prof. Matthew McCartney, University of Oxford 89. Satendra Rao 90. Dr. Hugo Gorringe, University of Edinburgh 91. Prof. David Owen, University of Southampton 92. Prof. Francesca Orsini, SOAS, University of London 93. Prof. Patricia Jeffery, University of Edinburgh 94. Kavita Bhanot, writer 95. Dr. Mireille Ribiere, independent scholar and writer 96. Karthikeyan Damodaran, University of Edinburgh 97. Dr. Claire Chambers, University of York 98. Amrita Sengupta, MSc Student, University of Oxford 99. Divya Ghelani, writer 100. Sipra Mukherjee, West Bengal State University 101. Dr. Luisa Steur, University of Amsterdam 102. Nithya Natarajan, doctoral student, SOAS, University of London 103. Sourit Bhattacharya, doctoral student, University of Warwick 104. Dr. Annapurna Waughray, Manchester Metropolitan University 105. Rowena Hill, Nottingham Trent University 106. Pritham Chakravarthy, Chennai 107. Dr. Meera Sabaratnam, SOAS, University of London 108. Usha Iyer, Clark University, US 109. Christi Merrill, University of Michigan, US 110. Ranjani Mazumdar, JNU, 111. Connor Hiorth, Trent University, Canada 112. Indrani Karmakar, University of York 113. Dr. Nicole Thiara, Nottingham Trent University 114. Prof. Arun Mukherjee, York University, Canada 115. Ravichandran 116. Prof. Alok Mukherjee, Ryerson University, Canada 117. Dr. Julie Mullaney, Manchester Metropolitan University 118. Prof. Nitya Rao, University of East Anglia 119. Prof. Roger Jeffery, University of Edinburgh 120. Dr. Doyeeta Majumder, University of Edinburgh 121. Dr. Dorota Goluch, University of Cardiff 122. Dr. Eda Ulus, University of Leicester 123. Judith Misrahi-Barak, Universite Paul-Valery Montpellier 3, France 124. Dr. Caroline Osella, SOAS, University of London 125. Dr. Tim Pringle, SOAS, University of London 126. Priya 127. Dr. Satoshi Miyamura, SOAS, University of London 128. Dr. Letizia Alterno, University of Manchester 129. Akanksha Mehta, doctoral student, SOAS, University of London 130. Jayesha Koushik, Hindu College, University of 131. Dr. Eleanor Newbigin, SOAS, University of London 132. Prof. Edward Simpson, SOAS, University of London 133. Dr. Gajendran Ayyathurai, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany 134. Rajni Kumar, Springdales 135. Dr. Simona Vittorini, SOAS, University of London 136. Dr. Roulin Khondoker, Imperial College, University of London 137. Dr. Mary Montgomery, LSE 138. Dr. Candide Simard, SOAS, University of London 139. Prof. Richard Widdess, SOAS, University of London 140. Dr. Lucia da Corta, University of Bath 141. Chinmay Sharma, doctoral student, SOAS, University of London 142. Dr. Caroline Herbert, Leeds Beckett University 143. Dr. Cyril Fouillet, ESSCA Business School, France 144. Prof. Deborah James, LSE 145. Dr. Andrew Newsham, SOAS, University of London 146. Prof. Nira Yuval-Davis, University of East London 147. Dr. Carolyn Heitmeyer, University of Sussex 148. Dr. Michael Waters, University of Oxford 149. Margaux Fisher, LSE 150. Dr. Catherine Allerton, LSE 151. Gill Shepherd, LSE 152. Prof. David Jonas 153. Marcos Marchesoni 154. Dr. Mishka Sinha, 155. Prof. David Mosse, SOAS, University of London 156. Dr. Shabnum Tejani, SOAS, University of London 157. Yanina Hinrichsen, LSE 158. Prof. Raminder Kaur, University of Sussex 159. Dr Fae Dussart, University of Sussex 160. Dr. Emma Mawdsley, University of Cambridge 161. Prof. Gilbert Achcar, Professor, SOAS, University of London 162. Dr. Sumi Madhok, LSE 163. Dr. Adam Hanieh, SOAS, University of London 164. Prof. Henry Bernstein, Professor Emeritus, SOAS, University of London 165. Prof. David Lewis, LSE 166. Dr. Matthew Nelson, SOAS, University of London 167. Dr. James Staples, Brunel University 168. Prof. Andrea Cornwall, University of Sussex 169. Prof. Katharine Adeney, University of Nottingham 170. Dr. Yasmeen Narayan, Birkbeck, University of London 171. Dr. Stephen Hughes, SOAS, University of London 172. Dr. Kate Meagher, LSE 173. Dr. Jacqueline Hirst, University of Manchester 174. Dr. John Stevens, SOAS, University of London 175. Dr. James Caron, SOAS, University of London 176. Anwesha Mukherjee, University of East Anglia 177. Dr. Geert De Neve, University of Sussex 178. Dr. Virinder S Kalra, University of Manchester 179. Prof. Filippo Osella, University of Sussex 180. Dr. Aditya Sarkar, University of Warwick 181. Demeter Chanter, LSE 182. Dr. Kavita Ramakrishnan, University of East Anglia 183. Dr. Grace Carswell, University of Sussex 184. Dr. Ben Selwyn, University of Sussex 185. Stephanie Putsch 186. Vani Sreekanta