More than 800 academics condemn the alleged harassment of faculty members by IIMB

More than 800 academics from around the world, including faculty from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), have written an open letter condemning Deepak Malghan’s alleged harassment by the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore condemn. (IIMB).

“Recently, IIMB, in a politically motivated move, demoted Mr. Malghan. While the High Court of Karnataka has ordered a stay of this excessive and unprecedented action, we call on IIM Bangalore to immediately withdraw all sanctions against Mr. Deepak Malghan. We strongly condemn the misuse of IIMB Service Rules to suppress academic freedom on campus. It is a great shame that a premier institution like IIMB is violating an internationally accepted set of rights to academic freedom,” the letter said.

The letter also details a series of disciplinary orders, including censorship orders, issued against Mr Malghan by the flagship institute since 2018. “The recent demotion by IIMB is just the culmination of a series of prosecutions he has been subjected to since 2018. They are clearly related to the issue of academic freedom,” said the academics, including those from Pennysylvania University and Wesleyan University, among others.

When The Hindu requested a response from IIMB to the above letter, a statement from the institution read as follows: “IIMB operates under established and faculty and board approved service rules governing the conduct of employees, with any disciplinary action taken in accordance with transparent and good rules. -defined procedures. The Institute disagrees with certain cause-and-effect relationships stated in the letter, and as some aspects of the matter are before the courts, we ask all parties to refrain from speculation. Therefore, the Institute has no further comment at this time.”