Under fire from Hindu nationalist groups, U.S.-based scholars of South Asia worry about academic freedom

October 3, 2021

A spokesperson for the Indian Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the matter.

For Chatterji, the consequences of her human rights work in India — from Kashmir’s mass graves to Assam’s citizenship tests — have been exacting. In 2010, under India’s Congress government, her spouse, Richard Shapiro, an anthropologist, was deported from the Delhi airport over what the government described as “political activism” in Kashmir.

On the advice of her lawyer, she has not visited India since the fall of 2014. There are times when she said she despairs, realizing that she cannot visit home when she wants, which has also made it difficult for her to pursue her academic research.

“This is my life and the only work I know how to do,” Chatterji said. “For those of us who have spent so long doing this, there is an obligation to speak out.”

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The Washington Post