Why Over 500 Academics Are Showing Solidarity With Jindal University Professor Facing Online Trolls, FIR

More than 500 academics, prominent figures, writers, students and citizens have written an open letter expressing support for OP Jindal Global University professor Dr Sameena Dalwai who recently became the target of online attacks, as well as an FIR accusing her of ‘outraging women’s modesty’. 

Renowned historian and author Ramachandra Guha, Professor Achin Vanaik, Chaman Lal, Nandita Narain, as well as professors from SOAS London, McGill University, University of Kent, Cambridge, the University of California, and Indian universities, were among the signatories who expressed concern that the professor was “being persecuted for her Muslim identity and her political beliefs”. 

What Is The Controversy About?

It started on September 23 last year when Dalwai took a class with third-year undergraduate law students at Jindal, a private university in Sonepat, Haryana. As part of the module on ‘Desire, sexuality and gender’, she had decided to analyse the language used on dating apps. According to a Scroll report, Dalwai made two profiles on dating app Bumble – one using the image of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for a male profile and another using a shadow of a woman for the female profile.

Bumble asks users to set a radius to find prospective matches, which, in this case, was reportedly set at 1 km. According to some students, the exercise left many in the classroom uncomfortable as they “felt she was objectifying the profiles”, a student told Scroll. The professor reportedly closed down the app after facing objections in the class.

One of the students took a video of the lecture. A few weeks later, activist and professor Achin Vanaik was holding a talk on Israel’s war on Palestine at the campus given the Hamas attacks of October 7. Dalwai had sent an email to the students encouraging them to attend the session to widen their understanding of the massacre in Palestine. She had also made a remark about the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ sloganeering on campus and “right-wing” students organising events. This kicked off a row. 

Screenshots of the email and video clips of her lecture were leaked and heavily circulated online, attacking her as Hinduphobic. She was also accused of violating students’ privacy for showing their dating profiles in the class. The sequence of events soon, led the Haryana State Commission for Women to intervene in the case.

According to a report by The Quint, Haryana State Commission for Women chairperson Renu Bhatia was told by the students that the Bumble exercise was not part of the curriculum and also that “she was body-shaming and talking about lesbians and gays”. Bhatia visited the campus and met Vice-Chancellor Professor C Raj Kumar and some students on the matter. 

In a post on X, Bhatia also said that the professor "appears to have an issue with certain Hindu slogans, specifically 'Jai Shri Ram,' and labels students as right-wing, unacceptable students” accusing her of doing “politics at the cost of their wellbeing and career."

While Dalwai became a victim of online trolling, an FIR was filed against her. On December 22, the Haryana Police registered a case against Dalwai for harming the dignity of women and discriminating against students on a religious and ideological basis.

Open Letter Reveals Stirs Up The Debate Again

According to a report by The Wire, over 500 academics and others extended their support to the professor stating that she has become the latest victim of an online campaign that leveraged her minority identity and political beliefs. The letter stated that Jindal University had succumbed to “political pressure”, thus setting a “damning precedent for future attacks on academic freedom”.

“As academics across the world, we are dismayed that discussions of sexuality or politics are assumed to harm the dignity of women or discriminate against students,” it said, noting that the dating app was an experimental learning tool.

The letter noted the lack of proper legal procedures and highlighted that in the series of relentless attacks on Indian universities, Professor Dalwai’s was the latest. “Twitter posts became evidence, emotive language replaced logic, confidential university documents were posted on social media. The whole process showed utter disregard for legal procedures and a vicious political agenda,” the letter read.

The signatories took a jibe at the Haryana Women’s Commission for accusing Dalwai of outraging the dignity of women while having completely ignored the battle against sexual harassment by the women wrestlers of Haryana.

They also questioned how the FIR against Dalwai was filed without a single student complainant and demanded authorities in Haryana, including the police and judiciary, “to put an end to this vicious witch hunt”.