4 Profs ‘harass’ Dalit, booked

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, November 19

Five persons, including four professors of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur, have been booked under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for allegedly harassing a Dalit faculty member of the institute’s aerospace department.

Subrahmanyam Sunderla, a Dalit Assistant Professor recently appointed in the aerospace department of the institute, has filed the complaint.

The professors booked in connection with the case are Rajiv Shekhar (who has since become Director of the IIT-Dhanbad), Sanjay Mittal (department of aerodynamics), Ishan Sharma (department of mechanical engineering) and Prof CS Upadhyay (department of aerospace engineering). They have been deprived of their administrative charges since April 16, 2018, following the complaint.

Sunderla, who is also an alumnus of the institute, alleged the accused professors and others spread rumours that he benefited from reservation and was not competent enough to answer questions.

He had also written a strongly worded e-mail to the IIT Director and the head of aerospace engineering department, Prof AK Ghosh, drawing their attention towards alleged harassment, said an IIT official.

Strangely no action was initiated against the four professors by the IIT-K administration despite an internal probe.

Sunderla said he joined the IIT-K faculty on January 1, 2018. Just four days later, Sanajy Mittal made a derogatory comment against him during a symposium after which his appointment was questioned.

In February, Sunderla complained to the IIT-K board after which Director Dr Manindra Agarwal constituted a three-member panel headed by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University’s Prof Vinay Kumar Pathak. In its report submitted in March, the panel found the four professors guilty of harassing Sundrela.

As the board did not take any action against the senior professors, Sundrela approached the National Commission for Schedule Castes (NCSC).

The commission directed suspension of the four professors and the lodging of an FIR against them. The four accused professors approached the Allahabad High Court, which, on April 18, stayed the NCSC directives holding that it had no power to pass such directions.

The HC said the IIT-Kanpur administration might hold disciplinary proceedings against the professors.

The IIT board then ordered a probe by a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court that once again held the four professors guilty of insubordination and of questioning the recruitment process of which they themselves were a part.