IIT Bombay Faculty Forum president Dr Rajkumar Pant has claimed that student Sahil Wakode, who allegedly died by suicide last week, had not approached the institute's SC/ST cell with any complaint in the recent past.
His remarks came after Wakode's family alleged that he had faced systematic institutional harassment and caste-based discrimination.
Pant also defended his colleague Suryanarayana Doolla, who was removed as dean of Administrative Affairs, alleging that he was generally helpful to students and would not engage in harassment.
He also said, while referring to institute rules, that cheating was clearly prohibited and that ignoring misuse of facilities would be unfair to students who followed the rules.
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay on Monday removed Doolla as dean of Administrative Affairs following protests by students and political activists over Wakode's death.
Police have registered a case against Doolla under provisions relating to abetment of suicide and caste discrimination.
Wakode, 22, a second-year BTech student in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering, was found hanging in his hostel room on the Powai campus on September 18 evening, hours after he was allegedly caught using a mobile phone to access ChatGPT during a mid-semester examination, according to officials.
Wakode's father had said that his son is a victim of caste-based discrimination. He said that for the last three months, his professor and officers of the IIT Bombay harassed him by making casteist slurs against him, even though he was a bright student.
Meanwhile, the institute later backtracked on its earlier statements that the deceased had cheated in the examination using ChatGPT, which it had linked to his death, and apologised.
Notably, the Mumbai Police have booked Doolla under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Section 108 (abetment of suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, following a complaint lodged by Wakode's family.
Pant alleged that, like every institute, IIT Bombay also has a dedicated SC/ST cell for the welfare of students from the category.
"I spoke to the institute's Deputy Director, Professor Ravindra Gudi, about it, and he confirmed to me that the SC/ST cell issued a notice stating that there was absolutely no attempt by the late Sahil Wakode to approach the cell over the last three or four months. No complaint was recorded by him, forget about a formal complaint; he had not even approached the SC/ST cell for anything," he said.
"Our only point is that we are teachers, and we are discharging our duties as mandated by the institute while following institute procedures," he added.
Asked whether Doolla had harassed Wakode, Pant alleged that his colleague had earlier served as dean of Student Affairs. "So, to expect that a person of his nature, who is known to be very helpful to students, would do this is unreasonable," he claimed.
"There are some situations where one has to act firmly, and he acted firmly as per the rules. But I am personally convinced that he is not the kind of person who would indulge in these kinds of acts... I see no merit in this claim," he added.
Pant also alleged that society and institute norms made it clear that cheating would not be tolerated.
"Now, if a faculty member sees someone misusing facilities and resorting to unfair means, taking no action would be unfair to the majority of students who do not cheat," he noted.
Pant further said he did not want to comment on what had been reported, adding that there was an FIR and the law would take its own course. "I think the Mumbai Crime Branch is investigating, so we have nothing to comment on that matter," he added.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
