The National Investigation Agency inquiring into the Bhima Koregaon case in Maharashtra has summoned Delhi University Hindu College assistant professor PK Vijayan to appear before it at NIA headquarters in New Delhi on 14 August.
The NIA notice reads: “Whereas it appears that you are acquainted with the circumstances of the case noted below, which is now under investigation by the Superintendent of Police/NIA/Mumbai under Chapter XIV of the Code of Criminal Procedure, you are hereby required to attend before the by Superintendent of Police/NIA/New Delhi at NIA HQRS, Opposite CGO Complex, Lodhi Rd, New Delhi on 14.08.2020 at 10.00 hrs. for the purpose of your examination relating to the case.”
The summons were delivered to him on Thursday.
Professor Vijayan, who has been teaching English at Delhi University for 25 years, is an author of “Gender and Hindu Nationalism: Understanding Masculine Hegemony.” The book has been published by Routledge.
He has authored several academic papers and participated in national and international seminars and conferences.
Many students, teachers, and members of the academic community and rights activists are alarmed by the summons issued to Professor Vijayan.
Recently, Professor Hany Babu of English Department, Delhi University had also been summoned similarly by the NIA and arrested under draconian UAPA charges in the Bhima Koregaon case.
Vijayan’s students at the English Department, Hindu College said in statement that the department stands in complete solidarity with their professor.
“We deplore this vicious agenda of the state to clamp down on the progressive voices arising out of academia. Various activists and academicians have been targets of this unconstitutional exercise, and there seems to be no stopping to it. We urge you all to educate yourselves and others about the issue and let your voices be heard,” the students said.
“Prof. Vijayan is a noted academic whose commitment to democratic rights, education for all, and ensuring social justice is reflected both in his academic engagements and social activism. He has been a staunch voice against privatization of public education, attacks on constitutional social justice norms, saffronization of the curriculum by the RSS-BJP regime, and criminalization of political opposition,” a statement in solidarity with Professor Vijayan by academic community said.
“In the university, we have personally witnessed Prof. Vijayan, or PKV as we all know him, inspire a passion for literature and its place in the struggle for a more egalitarian, just social order. We have also been aware of the intimidation faced by him from state and non-state actors over the years, most recently with the information of Israeli spyware ‘Pegasus’ being illegally used to surveil his personal communications along with at least 120 other Indians. NSO Group, the spyware developer admitted before an US court that ‘sovereign governments in foreign countries’ had used their services in April-May 2019 to illegally monitor citizens,” the statement reads.
Immediately end the use of state agencies to harass our Professor PK Vijayan, they said.
