Partha Chatterjee Demands Nature of Allegation in ‘Name & Shame’

In a statement, Chatterjee said that he has never had to face a complaint of sexual harassment.

Partha Chatterjee

(Photo: Harsh Sahani/The Quint)

Responding to the widely-debated ‘Name and Shame’ campaign, noted historian and academic Partha Chatterjee demanded that the nature of allegation against him be made known to him, so he ‘could make a specific response to it’.

Otherwise, I demand that my name be removed from the list.  

In a statement published on TheWire.in, Chatterjee said that he has never had to face a complaint of sexual harassment.

Also Read: Whisper Network & Discomfort: Lessons From a FB List of Harassers

Moreover, I am certain that in the 44 years of my association with the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, I have never been involved in an incident in which I could be accused of having sexually harassed a student.

Chatterjee’s name appears twice in the widely shared list – once as a professor of Kolkata’s Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, and the second as a faculty member at the Columbia University.

Chatterjee notes that while the ‘Number of Victims’ column in the spreadsheet states ‘1’ in the first allegation, the field is left blank in the second allegation.

Further, the columns “Description of complaint” and “Year of violence” are left blank in both instances.

Raya Sarkar, the woman who shared the list on Facebook, causing it to go viral, responded to Chatterjee’s statement:

Also Read: Facebook List Naming Profs as Sexual Harassers Sparks Fiery Debate

Sarkar, a California-based lawyer, put up a Facebook post on 23 October, accusing two Jadavpur University political science professors of sexual harassment. She invited others to send her names of academics who have sexually harassed students, or have displayed sexually predatory behaviour.