Faculty members of English and Foreign Languages University, University of Hyderabad, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Osmania University in a joint statement condemned the police raids at the residences of academics K. Satyanarayana and Anand Teltumbde.
The faculty members have formed an outfit, University Teachers Forum, Hyderabad to support students and faculty members who face injustice in academic spaces in the city. The statement signed by over 100 faculty members also demanded that the police return the material seized from the places of Prof. Satyanarayana and Prof. Teltumbde. Research material that Prof. Satyanarayana had accrued over 30 years is “now in danger of being completely destroyed” the statement read.
Prof. Satyanarayana is a scholar who had co-edited the two-volume anthology of new Dalit writings from south India: No alphabet in sight (Vol 1) and Steel Nibs are sprouting (Vol 2). Prof. Anand Teltumbde is also a social science researcher who published books and articles and is a popular contributor to Economic and Political Weekly . “The raids on the residences of these two scholars, along with other activists and lawyers across India, suggest a pattern of targeting anyone associated with dalits, women and other marginalised sections, in order to silence all opposition,” the statement argued.
The statement also pointed out that the house of Prof. Satyanarayana and wife Pavana was raided without producing any document to authorise the search at first. “The document that was eventually produced was in Marathi and was never presented at the time of entering the residence and no explanation was offered as to the purpose of the raid,” the statement read.
