A total of 887 academics, experts and students from India and abroad have condemned the “vindictive 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 has been facing disciplinary action for his activism and social media posts, which were deemed to violate the institute’s code of conduct.

In an open letter dated October 9 and shared with Scroll 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 was violating the “Principles for Implementing 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 demanded that the institute withdraw all sanctions against him.

As per the open letter, Malghan joined the management school as an assistant professor in 2008. Subsequently, he was promoted to the position of associate professor.

Malghan was due to be elevated to the post of professor but the promotion was withheld 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 that he has been subject 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 were approved by its faculty and board, reported The Hindu. Any disciplinary action is taken according to transparent and well-defined procedures, the management school said.

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

The 887 signatories condemned what they described as the “silencing of the demands” made by Malghan, which were devoted 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 dissuading them from inviting consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever Limited for campus placements due to its alleged failure to remedy the damage caused by mercury poisoning from its thermometer factory in Tamil Nadu’s Kodaikanal.

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 institutes of higher education, the letter said.

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

In 2019, another censure order was issued against Malghan for an interview he gave to Scroll, wherein he “criticised IIMs over lack of diversity in the faculty body and other governance-related issues”. This order imposed a ban on his research funding and consultancy activities.

In 2022, another inquiry was initiated based on several complaints against two posts Malghan had published 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 question of the lack of diversity in higher educational institutions.”

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

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

Malghan has challenged the action in the Karnataka High Court.

Yet another inquiry was set up against the professor in 2023 for a post on X in which he highlighted the prevalence of caste discrimination at the institute. The inquiry added other posts by Malghan to its report and found him guilty of allegedly violating the service rules.

The institute subsequently 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 moved the Karnataka High Court against this order as well. Earlier this year, the court stayed the action.