Who Is Audrey Truschke? Historian Alleges Plagiarism In Vikram Sampath's Work

Who is Audrey Truschke: The Delhi High Court Friday, in an ad-interim order, restrained a group of historians from publishing defamatory claims that contain allegations of plagiarism against historian Vikram Sampath. Audrey Truschke is one of the defendants, alongside Ananya Chakravarti and Rohit Chopra, to whom the court has given said directions.

Sampath, best known for his biography on controversial Indian activist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, was recently elected as a fellow of the Royal Historical Society (RHS). A letter undersigned by Truschke, Chakravarti and Chopra to the RHS President Emma Griffin alleges Sampath has "a pervasive, long-standing pattern of plagiarism" in his works. This, the writers claim, stands in violation of the Society's ethics.

Sampath took the matter to court seeking two crore rupees in damages from the defendants and a permanent injunction on the publication of the letter to the RHS. In court, he argued that he had used suitable citations and footnotes in his works on Savarkar.

"I have cited everybody. Ultimately as a scholar the only capital I have is my reputation... I will be an academic pariah if this is allowed," Sampath's counsel said on his behalf before the court, as quoted by Bar & Bench. 

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Know Who Is Audrey Truschke

Truschke is an Associate Professor of South Asian history at Rutgers University in New Jersey. According to her website, she also describes herself as an author and activist. She has done significant work pertaining to the history of the Indian subcontinent, with a focus on the Mughal Empire.

Three books have been published under her name between 2016 and 2021, titled Culture of Encounters, Aurangzeb and The Language of History. Her next work is on the history of India, tracing a timeline from the Indus Valley civilisation to the modern day.

Truschke describes herself as anti-fascist and is an active commentator online on communalism in India. She is part of the team of academics that founded the Hindutva Harassment Field Manual that claims to provide resources to those targetted by "Hindu nationalist attacks."

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The letter penned by Truschke and the others alleges that Sampath's works have aroused "suspicions of plagiarism." The historians name researchers Dr Vinayak Chaturvedi and Dr Janaki Bakhle, among others, whose works Sampath has allegedly not acknowledged in full in his essay The Revolutionary Leader Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

"The sheer number of lifted sentences and ideas" in Sampath's essay, the historians say in their letter, prompted them to explore his biography on Savarkar to check for "similar lapses of academic ethics."

The letter mentions that the historians have more evidence to back their claims and hope that the RHS will "revisit the membership" of Sampath and subject his works to "scrutiny that he has thus far evaded from academics."