KHARAGPUR/KOLKATA: The dean of student affairs at IIT Kharagpur has resigned following agitation by students over the the institute’s “lackadaisical response” to the death of a third-year mechanical engineering student and its “lack of empathy” towards the family.
While Dhrubajyoti Sen resigned on October 19, the students were informed about this on Friday during an open house convened by director V K Tiwari. Over 5,000 students gathered for the event raised slogans demanding the director’s resignation. They held the director, deputy director, dean of student affairs and student’s faculty adviser responsible for the lapses. As the protests continued into the night, Tiwari fell ill. On Saturday, he was admitted to a hospital in Kolkata, registrar Tamal Nath said. His condition was stable but he might need an angiogram, hospital sources said. The partially decomposed body of Faizan Ahmed, who hailed from Assam, was found in his hostel room after cops broke open the door on October 14. He had not been seen for 48 hours prior to that.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma requested his Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee to conduct a thorough investigation into the death. Faizan’s parents have lodged an FIR. IIT authorities have formed a team to investigate the lapses in handling the situation, campus sources said. On Thursday, deputy director Amit Patra had issued a statement apologising and taking responsibility for the lapses. At Friday’s event, students questioned how Faizan’s absence from four mid-semester exams went unnoticed and why the faculty adviser had not alerted the hostel warden. The administration was even unaware that Faizan had switched hostels recently. But it was the lack of empathy towards the grieving family that has irked the students most. They alleged that when student representatives raised the issue, they were threatened with police and disciplinary actions by the dean of students affairs.