Kharagpur: IIT-Kharagpur professor suspended for abusing SC/ST students

KHARAGPUR: IITKharagpur has suspended a professor from the department of humanities and social sciences who was caught on video, allegedly abusing SC/ST students during an online class. The video that went viral and led to a show-cause notice being slapped on the institute by the National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC) had left the institute authorities red faced.
“A complaint had been filed at IIT Kharagpur against the professor’s behaviour. An inquiry committee was set up that after a preliminary probe found merit in the complaint. The professor has been suspended till further order. A full fledged probe will be carried out now,” said the institute registrar, Tamal Nath.
In the viral video, Prof Seema Singh was allegedly heard abusing a student for not standing up while the national anthem was being played. NCSC had taken suo motu cognisance of her unparliamentary language and casteist remarks and sought a reply from IIT-Kgp, the education ministry and the state government.
Singh was teaching students of a preparatory class for SC, ST, OBC and PwD students to coach them at an IIT for a year. All students in the reserved category who clear the cut-off but don’t get the seats can voluntarily sign up for this course to seek admission a year later.
Student bodies and fellow professors condemned the incident but ere also confused why the associate professor played the national anthem during an online class.