More than 1,000 alumni of various IITs across the country have written to the director of IIT Kharagpur, asking him to immediately terminate a professor, had made casteist remarks and foul language to her students. They also asked the professor to issue an unconditional apology for her behaviour during the lecture.
The professor, who is a faculty of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, was handling the IIT Preparatory Course for a group of SC/ST and PwD candidates. The videos of her online lecture where she had also threatened the students with zero attendance and zero internal marks. She also told a student that their grandfather's death was no excuse for them to miss classes.
"IITs are notoriously hostile to Dalit, Adivasi and backward class students. It is evident from the videos that the professor is a habitual offender and believes her casteism and abuse will go uncensured. We cannot allow this," said the authors of the email. A few signatories include former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, former IIT Kanpur Deputy Director Manindra Agarwal and Massey University Professor Mohan J Dutta.
They also say that the institute must take punitive action against the professor under the Prevention of Atrocities Against SC/ST Act, arrange necessary support to concerned students 'to cope with the unwarranted humiliation' and set up an SC, ST and OBC cell. "We demand that the institute take all necessary students are treated with dignity and respect and that casteism is eradicated from the campus," they say.
