High Court grants relief to 4 IIT-K profs in dalit harassment case

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday stayed the arrest of IIT Dhanbad director Rajeev Shekhar and three others in connection with an FIR registered at Kalyanpur police station of Kanpur under the SC/ ST Act and other provisions of law.

The Court has also issued a notice to the informant, assistant professor Dr Subramanium Sadrela and has asked him to file reply within four weeks.

The bench comprising justice BK Narayana and justice Rajiv Joshi passed the order on the writ petition filed by Rajeev Shekhar and three other professors namely, Chandra Shekhar Upadhyay, Ishant Sharma and Sanjay Mithal.

In the FIR lodged with the Kalyanpur police, Sadrela alleged that the four professors made casteist remarks against him soon after his appointment as assistant professor in the department of aerospace on January 1, 2018. He also said that they challenged his appointment.

In the writ petition filed before the court, it had been alleged that earlier, Sadrela had filed a complaint with the SC/ST Commission which had directed the IIT Kanpur director to register an FIR and this order was challenged by the petitioners before the High Court and the order was stayed by the court.

While staying the commission’s order, the court had directed the IIT Kanpur director to conduct an enquiry. It was alleged in the petition that during pendency of this enquiry by the director, Dr Sadrela himself lodged an FIR against petitioners for using defamatory language against him.

The petitioners’ contention was that since the enquiry was on as per directions of High Court, hence FIR was wrongly registered against them.

The case will be listed after four weeks.

First Published: Nov 23, 2018 10:59 IST