GUWAHATI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) summoned IIT-Guwahati professor Arupjyoti Saikia for questioning for the second time in three days on Monday.
He was grilled for four hours in an unspecified case on Saturday. The NIA has not yet disclosed the reasons behind the grilling of the 52-year-old but sources said he was called as a witness in an unspecified case.
Saikia is a professor of history in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. His areas of research include the economic, environmental and political history of modern Assam.
Meanwhile, in a statement, a group of 42 scholars, including Ramachandra Guha, urged the NIA to treat Saikia “with the dignity and respect he deserves, and allow him to continue his professional work unimpeded.”
“We, a group of Indian scholars and academics from across the country, write in distress and with concern with regard to the ongoing ordeal of Professor Arupjyoti Saikia. Professor Saikia is the country’s one of the most distinguished and respected historians. The author most recently of a landmark history of the Brahmaputra River, he has also written significant works on forest and agrarian history. For his contributions to scholarship, Professor Saikia is hugely admired, indeed venerated, in his native Assam. He also has a very high reputation nationally and even internationally, with his scholarship recognised by a prestigious fellowship from Yale University,” the statement reads.
It added: “Professor Saikia is an adornment to the literary and intellectual world of Assam and of India. He is also an individual of high moral character; gentle, soft-spoken, and utterly non-violent. His devotion to his students at IIT Guwahati is exemplary”.
The statement further said it was “deeply distressing” that a scholar of such standing, and a human being of such decency, was called for intensive grilling by the NIA.