The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has directed the IIT Kanpur management to suspend and lodge FIR against four Professors of the Institute who were found guilty of passing casteist remarks against a Dalit faculty member.
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has directed the IIT Kanpur management to suspend and lodge FIR against four Professors of the Institute who were found guilty of passing casteist remarks against a Dalit faculty member.
Showing displeasure over inaction by the IIT Kanpur management, the commission has directed the Institute Director Prof Manindra Agarwal to submit an action taken report by May 1. On a notice issued by the Commission, the IIT-K Director along with other senior faculty members had appeared before the NCSC on April 10 to put up inquiry reports pertaining to allegations of harassment by a Dalit Assistant Professor Dr Subramanium Sundrela of the Airospace Department.
A pass-out of the IIT Kanpur, Dr Sundrela had joined the IIT Kanpur in January 2018 as Assistant Professor. He had lodged a complaint with the IIT-K Board against four senior Professors of the Institute for passing casteist remarks and mental torture since he belonged to a low caste.
The Institute Director Dr Manindra Agarwal had constituted a three-member committee, headed by Prof Vinay Kumar Pathak of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU), to probe Dr Sundrela’s charges. After an inquiry, the three-member committee had found all the four senior Professors guilty of continuously harassing Dr Sundrela in its report submitted last month.
The report was placed before the IIT-K Board of Governing Council on March 19 to decide action against the guilty Professors. But instead of initiating any action, the Board had recommended for reaching a compromise between the victim and the accused faculty members. But Dr Sundrela turned down the offer and took his complaint to the Commission.
Taking serious note of the IIT-K management inaction, the Commission has issued directives to suspend all four Professors and lodge an FIR against them under the SC/ST Act. The commission has asked the IIT-K management to submit an action taken report by May 1.
The IIT-K Director Manindra Agarwal said that a meeting of the Board of Governing Council is being convened to discuss commission’s directives. “We will abide by the commission’s order and initiate action in the case,” said Prof Agarwal.
The IIT Kanpur is in news for the past one year for all wrong reasons. In January, a girl student of the Institute was allegedly raped by an IAF employee within the campus on the pretext of marrying her. In October last year, about 22 students were rusticated from the institute for ragging their juniors.
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