Shoma Sen is a women's rights activist and assistant professor and was head of the

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

department of the

Nagpur University Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU), formerly Nagpur University, is a public state university located in Nagpur, Maharashtra. It is one of India's oldest universities, as well as the second oldest in Maharashtra. It is named ...

. On 8 June 2018, she was arrested by the Pune Police for her alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon riots

Personal life

Shoma was born and raised in an upper-middle class

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the ...

family in

Bandra Bandra (Indian English, æːɳɖɾa also known as Vandre (Help:IPA/Marathi, �aːn̪d̪ɾe is an upscale coastal suburb located in Mumbai (Bombay) area of the Konkan division, Maharashtra, India. The suburb is located to the immediate nor ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

. She did her schooling from St. Joseph's Convent. After completing her master's degree from

Elphinstone College Elphinstone College is one of the constituent colleges of Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, a state cluster university. Established in 1823, it is one of the oldest colleges in Mumbai. It played a major role in shaping and developing the edu ...

in Mumbai, she pursued her M.Phil and Ph.D in Nagpur University. She is married to Tushar Kanti Bhattacharya, a writer and translator and has a daughter, Koel, who is a filmmaker. Shoma lives in

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

Activism

Shoma Sen has worked with the Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR), a human rights organisation. Shoma has been the president of Nagpur University Teachers' Association (NUTA). She was arrested on 6 June 2018 by the

Pune Police Pune City Police Department (PCPD) is the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over 790 km2 in the city of Pune, India. The city police is division of Maharashtra Police, i.e state police department of Maharashtra. The current Pune ...

, and later suspended from her position in Nagpur University. No charges have been proved yet by the prosecution and an ongoing case is due for trial at the

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the ...

. Shoma has spent more than 528 days (1 and half years) of incarceration already. Shoma was a part of a women's organisation in Nagpur, called Stree Chetna which discussed issues such as violence against women and dowry deaths.

Arrest

On 8 June 2018, she was arrested by the Pune Police along with

Sudhir Dhawale Sudhir Dhawale is an Indian activist, actor and publisher of the bi-monthly Marathi magazine ''Vidrohi''. He is also the founder of organisation, Republican Panthers. Personal life Sudhir Dhawale was born into a family in Indora, a slum commun ...

, Mahesh Raut,

Surendra Gadling Surendra Gadling is a human rights lawyer and Dalit rights activist based in Nagpur. Personal life Surendra was born into a Dalit family in Indora, a slum community in Nagpur. He lives in Bhim Chowk with his wife, two children and mother. Wo ...

and Rona Wilson. They were charged under the

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is an Indian law aimed at prevention of unlawful activities associations in India. Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty o ...

for their alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon violence. At the time of her arrest, she was nearing retirement. On 15 June, she was suspended from her position in Nagpur University on grounds that she had been in police custody for more than 48 hours.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Shoma Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Elphinstone College alumni Indian women's rights activists Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University alumni Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University faculty People from Bandra