The death of a second year BTech student at IIT-Bombay and the subsequent suspension of Suryanarayana Doolla as the dean of administrative affairs at the campus has left students, faculty and the internet divided.
Earlier, IIT Bombay Faculty Forum president Professor Rajkumar S Pant had also reportedly said that the institute has a dedicated SC/ST Cell, and that the BTech student had not raised any complaints there before his death, reported ANI. Doolla was the invigilator during the exam. However, he also defended the IIT faculty saying they already undergo significant stress due to being short-staffed despite a substantial increase in student intake.
IIT-Bombay had said that the student who died had been found using a mobile phone during the examination and had uploaded the question paper on ChatGPT to seek answers. As a massive protest erupted at the Powai campus over the student’s death, IIT-B faculty members argued that the professor was only doing his job and followed “Senate-approved exam procedure” when he reported the student over phone use.
many are also coming out in Doolla’s support, who was the invigilator at the exam in which the student was caught cheating hours before taking the extreme step While people are expressing sorrow over the student’s suicide. “The case against Prof. Doolla under the SC/ST Act must be withdrawn,” Kulkarni wrote in a statement, arguing that cases of student suicides come from all castes and communities. “The causes behind these tragedies vary. However, if a student belongs to the SC or ST communities, it is wrong to automatically fix guilt on persons belonging to the so-called “upper castes and to seek punishment for them under the stringent provisions of the SC/ST Act.
It amounts to “reverse casteism”,” he added.
