A total of 887 academics, experts and students from India and abroad condemned the “vengeful harassment and persecution” of economist and social activist Deepak Malghan by the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore.

Malghan is an assistant professor at the institute. He faces disciplinary action for his activism and social media posts, which were deemed to be in violation of the institute’s code of conduct.

In an open letter dated October 9 and shared with Scroll down on Friday, the 887 signatories condemned the “misuse of IIMB (Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore) service rules to stifle academic freedom on campus.”

It was a “great shame” that the institute violated the “Principles for the Implementation of the Right to Academic Freedom”, the group said. The Principles are a set of guidelines for protecting and promoting academic freedom issued by the United Nations.

The letter condemned the “politically motivated” move to demote Malghan and asked the institute to withdraw all sanctions against him.

According to the open letter, Malghan joined the management school as an assistant professor in 2008. He was later promoted to the position of associate professor.

Malghan was due to be promoted to the post of professor, but the promotion was held up due to disciplinary action taken against him in 2022.

In March 2024, Malghan was demoted to the rank of assistant professor, the letter added.

“The recent demotion by IIMB is only the culmination of a series of persecutions it has been subjected to since 2018,” the signatories wrote. “They are clearly related to the issue of academic freedom.”

In response to the letter, the institute said its rules governing employee conduct had been approved by the faculty and board, reported Hindu. Any disciplinary action is taken according to transparent and well-defined procedures, the management school said.

It added: “The Institute does not agree with certain cause-and-effect relationships as stated in the letter and, as some aspects of the matter are sub-judice, we ask all parties to refrain from speculation. Therefore, the institute has no further comment at this time.”

The 887 signatories condemned what they described as Malghan’s “silencing of demands” that were dedicated to upholding constitutional values.

Background

According to the letter, a censure order was first issued by the institute against Malghan in October 2018.

This was in connection with an email he sent to students discouraging them from inviting consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever Limited for campus placements because of its alleged failure to fix deteriorate caused by mercury poisoning at its thermometer factory in Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu.

In the same year, Malghan co-authored papers documenting the “acute social diversity deficit” at the Indian Institutes of Management. He has also written about and campaigned against the lack of diversity in higher education institutions, the letter said.

“Part of the harassment Dr. Malghan has faced is driven by a backlash from entrenched interests that have resisted his drive for caste justice inside and outside IIM,” the group said.

In 2019, another censorship order was issued against Malghan for an interview he gave Scroll downin which he “criticized the IIMs for lack of diversity in the faculty body and other governance issues”. That order imposed a ban on funding his research and consulting activities.

In 2022, another investigation was initiated based on multiple complaints against two posts by Malghan on X.

The letter said, “The Standing Disciplinary Committee of IIM(B), while referring these complaints to an inquiry committee, widened the scope to include articles published by Prof. Deepak Malghan on the issue of lack of diversity in institutions of higher education”.

The inquiry commission did not find any violation of any of the service rules and did not recommend any disciplinary action against Malghan, it added.

Later, however, the disciplinary committee allegedly ignored the findings of the inquiry committee and claimed that Malghan had in fact violated the rules of conduct. The institute then withheld his promotion for a year.

Malghan challenged the action in the Karnataka High Court.

Yet another investigation was opened against the professor in 2023 for a post on X in which he highlighted the prevalence of caste discrimination at the institute. The investigation added Malghan’s other posts to his report and found him guilty of allegedly violating service rules.

The institute later passed an order in March 2024 demoting Malghan for five years and “also prohibiting him from posting anything related to IIMB on social media or public forums”.

Malghan also moved the Karnataka High Court against this order. Earlier this year, the court remained the action.