PANAJI
A group of 37 prominent academicians, authors, lawyers, engineers, activists and citizens from Goa under the banner of “Shilpa Singh Support Group” (SSSG) has written to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari requesting him to intervene and issue a statement in support for Shilpa Surendra Pratap Singh, Assistant Professor V M Salgaonkar College of Law at Miramar.
The signatories have urged the Governor to defend Singh’s right to freedom of expression while also expressing serious concern about her safety in the light of recent online abuse she sustained at the hands of Rajiv Jha of Rashtriya Yuva Hindu Vahini, South Goa Unit.
The letter alleges that the recent FIR registered at Panaji Police station was an outcome of the police bowing to some extreme reactionary right-wing groups in Goa. It has been pointed out that Singh has been facing intimidation and threats because of her ideas that she has expressed and she presently feels extremely vulnerable due to the assault on her dignity as a woman.
The group said the attack on Shilpa was systematic repression of academic freedom, considering that she has been making a case for the same in her speeches and writings.
The signatories of the letter include Dr Maria Aurora Couto, Prof Peter de Souza, Adv Nandita Haksar, Adv Cleofato Almeida Coutinho, Planner Edgar Ribeiro, activist Abhijit Prabhudesai, Reboni Saha and Pravin Sabnis.
