Hours after sharing screenshots of the despicable post written by the students of the Gender Studies cell of St. Stephen’s College against him while opposing the invitation extended to him by another department of the same college, the Supreme Court lawyer, J Sai Deepak, has gone on to detail the entire fiasco.
Adding a few more Tweets in the thread he posted on February 25, 2020, the Supreme Court Advocate wrote, “Quite a few ppl have reached out asking me as to what exactly transpired in this St. Stephen’s episode. I will keep it factual with a few comments on the episode. Before I proceed, I would request everyone to be measured in their language given that students are involved.”
3. Quite a few ppl have reached out asking me as to what exactly transpired in this St. Stephen’s episode. I will keep it factual with a few comments on the episode. Before I proceed, I would request everyone to be measured in their language given that students are involved.
— Sai Deepak J (@jsaideepak) February 26, 2022
Detailing what exactly transpired, J Sai Deepak said that on February 9th, students from St. Stephen’s Leadership cell contacted him and invited him to speak at the Leadership Conclave, which was scheduled to be held between February 24th and 27th. He confirmed his availability on the evening of February 25th, he added.
On February 22nd, he was informed by the Leadership cell that the Principal of St. Stephen’s had granted permission for his session. After receipt of permission, students of the Leadership cell proceeded to put up posters of the event on the campus.
J Sai Deepak added that he had realised that granting approval wouldn’t be the end of the problem, based on his previous experience with another Delhi-based minority college that succumbed under pressure from a group of students, and he notified the Leadership cell students as much.
Notably, J Sai Deepak in his aforementioned Tweet was referring to Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University, which had in 2020 also cancelled his lecture to be conducted on ‘Minority rights’.
7. As expected, I received a call from students of the Leadership cell a few hours before the event that some students had objected to my being invited. I was informed that I would get a mail citing “logistical reasons” for the cancellation of the event, which I am yet to get.
— Sai Deepak J (@jsaideepak) February 26, 2022
The Supreme Court lawyer continued to say, “As expected, I received a call from students of the Leadership cell a few hours before the event that some students had objected to my being invited. I was informed that I would get a mail citing “logistical reasons” for the cancellation of the event, which I am yet to get.”
J Sai Deepak added that he had no intention to bring up the fiasco because “(a) the episode involved students and (b) I had better things to do”. However, when the disparaging Instagram post of St. Stephen’s Gender Studies Cell were brought to his attention later that evening, just before his IIM Bangalore session where he was invited as a panellist, he decided to help the students by disseminating their post through his social media accounts.
In his subsequent Tweets, the Supreme Court lawyer goes on to reprimand some of the institution’s students for using “uncivil language.” He also highlighted his dissatisfaction with the institution’s reluctance to take a stand against its student wrongdoing.
“I have nothing to say on the conduct of the Gender Studies Cell of St. Stephen’s because their posts speak for them. Whether this warrants an introspection on their part is for them to decide. That said, I *don’t* approve of uncivil language being used against them by anyone,” wrote the SC Lawyer in his 10th Tweet.
Lauding students of the leadership cell of the college for taking the initiative to invite him despite the “atmospherics and peer pressure”, J Sai Deepak slammed the authorities of the St. Stephen’s College for buckling under pressure from a group of students and not standing by its decision to greenlight his session.
“Independent of d students of course,it is indeed unfortunate that St. Stephen’s as an institution cud’nt stand by its decision to greenlight my session.I guess this underscores a larger problem that plagues such institutions across d country-selective support for free speech,” further added the SC lawyer.
J Sai Deepak further went on to raise his concerns at the lack of originality in the certain positions taken by a specific section of students and the disturbing trend that has been emerging amongst them to accept opinions as substitutes for logic, reason, knowledge, discourse, and debate, all of which necessitate the courage to engage with opposing viewpoints.
In his next Tweet, the SC lawyer gave a befitting reply to his detractors “making predictable jibes about his arguments in the Marital Rape petition”.
“As an arguing counsel I am discharging my mandate & 2. my written submissions will make it abundantly clear as to d position taken bcoz a binary treatment using labels doesn’t do justice to d issue,” Tweeted Sai Deepak.
Notably, in its Instagram post, the students of Delhi’s St. Stephen’s College’s Gender Studies Cell had slammed the SC lawyer for taking the side of Men’s Welfare Trust and Hriday NGO, organizations that fight for the rights of men.
J Sai Deepak further opined, “Not to generalise, but I have found science & management institutions/departments much more open to debate & engagement than d humanities departments who, I ironically, see themselves as champions of free speech and expression. That misplaced sense of hubris needs to be challenged”.
He ended his Tweet thread by saying, “Finally, d St. Stephen’s episode is a clear sign of a tectonic churn taking place on campuses across d country. Regardless of my views, I welcome this churn & *will* support it to d hilt. I thank d Gender Studies Cell of St. Stephen’s for enabling this. Jai Shri Ram.Vande Mataram.”
St. Stephen’s College’s Gender studies Cell releases abusive statement, opposes invite to J Sai Deepak by leadership cell
Earlier in the day, OpIndia reported that Delhi’s St. Stephen’s College’s Gender Studies Cell had ‘vehemently opposed’ the invitation extended to J Sai Deepak by the college’s leadership cell to speak about his new book, India that is Bharat – Coloniality, Civilization, and Constitution.
In a Tweet thread, the Supreme Court advocate J Sai Deepak shared screenshots of the despicable post written by the students of the Gender Studies cell of St. Stephen’s College against him, while opposing the invitation extended to him by another department of the same college.
In the statement, the students of the Gender Studies cell of St. Stephen’s College used reprehensible terms like ‘bigoted’, ‘sexist’, ‘casteist’ and ‘misogynistic’ for the senior SC lawyer while opposing the invite. The students of the Gender Studies cell department went on to call J Sai Deepak ‘Islamophobic’ for his public opinion on the recent Burqa row that snowballed into a major controversy.
Moreover, owing to J Sai Deepak’s public positions on the Sabarimala verdict, Citizenship Amendment Act and Article 370, some students of St Stephens College “condemned the invitation, called for a cancellation of his lecture and a boycott in case the event is still continued with”.
