IIT-Kanpur fails to comply with NCSC directive in faculty harassment case, FIR against 4 professors yet to be lodged

LUCKNOW: Failing to comply with the directive of National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), IIT-Kanpur management could not get the FIR registered against four senior professors of the prestigious institution for harassing a faculty of Aerospace engineering department.

Following strong protests and outrage by the members of Institute Advisory Committee (IAC) at a meeting against legal action on four professors, the management has deferred the lodging of FIR for now. However, the institution has time till April 20 to file the complaint and submit the compliance report to the NCSC till May 1.

As per the highly placed sources in the institution, in all probability, the FIR would now be lodged after the new director takes over on April 18.

On the other, two professors – Prof Deopam Das and Prof Chandrashekhar Upadhyaya – of Aerospace Engineering department were removed from Department Faculty Advisory Committee (DFAC). The victim faculty had named Prof Upadhyay as one among those who had harassed him. Prof Das however, continues to remain the member of Board of Governors of IIT-Kanpur, sources said.

The institute also removed institute’s SC/ST cell liaison officer Kamal Poddar. All the removal came through following NCSC directives.