SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Starting July 1, 2026, SAR no longer publishes reports for the incidents that it records. SAR continues to monitor and record incidents that will be used in the annual Free to Think report. This page provides a record of incidents reported up to that date. Learn more about the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.

Date of Incident: November 16, 2024

Attack Types: Other

Institution(s):Rabindranath Tagore Medical College

Region & Country:Southern Asia | India

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On November 16, 2024, members of the Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) disrupted the second day of the previously approved Udaipur Film Festival at Rabindranath Tagore (RNT) Medical College, causing the university to cancel the remainder of the festival. 

The Udaipur Film Festival, originally scheduled to take place from November 15 to 17, was co-organized by the Udaipur Film Festival Society and the Cinema of Resistance. The 2024 festival was dedicated to the late Professor Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba and to Palestinian children who had been killed by Israeli military action in Gaza. 

On the afternoon of November 16, about 10 members of RSS entered the venue and began shouting insults at the event organizers, prompting RNT administrators to shut down the ongoing film screenings. RNT President Vipin Mathur then called the event organizers and RSS members into his office for a meeting, during which RSS members accused Professor Saibaba of being a terrorist, insisted that the event organizers apologize for dedicating the event to Palestinian children killed in Gaza, and demanded that the event organizers disavow Naxal and Maoist groups. While the event organizers did confirm their non-affiliation with Naxals and Maoists, they refused to apologize for dedicating the film festival to Palestinian children. At the end of the meeting, President Mathur decided to cancel the remainder of the film festival. 

Scholars at Risk is concerned about efforts to shut down a campus discussion by members of the higher education community. While students have the right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, including the right to protest content and events with which they disagree, they must exercise those rights responsibly and with respect for the free expression rights and academic freedom of other members of the higher education community and society at large. Attempts to shut down campus events and discourse undermine academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and democratic society generally.

Sources:
https://thewire.in/rights/rss-disrupts-udaipur-film-festival-over-tribute-to-palestinian-children-and-g-n-saibaba
https://maktoobmedia.com/more/film-and-tv/rss-disrupts-udaipur-film-festival-dedicated-to-palestinian-children-gn-saibaba/