CHAPTER 23

• Jurisdiction: United States

CHAPTER 23

One of the #MeToo Movements in India: The List

Shivangi Misra¹

The List

In October 2017, Raya Sarkar, a law student at the time, self-identified feminist, and anti-caste activist, published a crowdsourced list (the List) of professors in Indian academia, accusing them of sexually harassing their students. She started by naming two names and then asked women via a Facebook post to come forward or send her the names of professors who have sexually harassed them. She stated that this list was based on first-person accounts shared with her via WhatsApp, text messages, emails, and other mediums. The List in its final form had seventy-nine professors and faculty members from twenty-nine educational institutions. The List, however, did not make public either the context of the accusations or any supporting evidence. Raya explained that she did not have the consent of the women to release the details yet.²

The List is no longer available online and presumably has been deleted from its original location. Its memory and impact, nevertheless, have been preserved in the wide spectrum of responses to the accusations on the List. Homogeneity in any form within India is rare, and the responses from men, women, feminists, academics, lawyers reflected the diversity.³ The author of the List, by publishing the names given to her by other women, faced threats of death, rape, and physical assault.⁴ Violence or the looming threat of violence against women is the truth as we know it, but the striking element after the List came out was the strong disagreement among feminists, which tried to shut the doors on the method that popularly came to be known as the "name and shame" method. It was under these circumstances that, two years ago, the #MeToo movement in India began—with unease.

The Response

In a written public statement by fourteen well-known feminist lawyers, activists, and influential public figures, the List was strongly condemned, and they urged that the names on the List be withdrawn from the public domain. The short letter, published on an online platform Kafila, is reproduced below:

As feminists, we have been part of a long struggle to make visible sexual harassment at the workplace, and have worked with the movement to put in place systems of transparent and just procedures of accountability. We are dismayed by the initiative on Facebook, in which men are being listed and named as sexual harassers with no context or explanation. One or two names of men who have been already found guilty of sexual harassment by due process, are placed on par with unsubstantiated accusations. It worries us that anybody can be named anonymously, with lack of answerability. Where there are genuine complaints, there are institutions and procedures, which we should utilize. We too know the process is harsh and often tilted against the complainant. We remain committed to strengthening these processes. At the same time, abiding by the principles of natural justice, we remain committed to due process, which is fair and just.

This manner of naming can delegitimize the long struggle against sexual harassment, and make our task as feminists more difficult.

We appeal to those who are behind this initiative to withdraw it, and if they wish to pursue complaints, to follow due process, and to be assured that they will be supported by the larger feminist community in their fight for justice.

It is an undisputable fact that the women who have signed this "Kafila letter" have played an extremely important role in strengthening the legal framework on the subject of sexual harassment. However, to claim that the feminist struggle seemed to have suffered a setback due to women speaking out in their own respective manner puts the blame where it does not belong, with the survivors. The letter begins with, "As feminists . . . ," according to itself this self-recognition, which is well-suited for feminists, except when it mistakenly assumes it includes all women and all personal experiences. Such criticism coming from inside the movement itself, which assumes that naming an accused without any context delegitimizes the process, is not only troublesome but also fails to appreciate the larger goal that the #MeToo movement is aiming to achieve. It needs to be acknowledged that the lack of context with the names of the academics was...