We have information from a whistleblower that a professor at IIT Bombay from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) has been fired for sexual harassment. However, they have not made the circumstances of his firing public. Based on our information, the circumstances are very worrying and more information from IIT Bombay will be in the interest of the students. We urge IIT Bombay to clarify on this matter. We commit to publishing their response.
This is what we know allegedly happened:
One professor (we are not naming him for legal reasons) in the humanities department was fired. Misusing his position, he used to discuss sex with members of his class multiple times and created uncomfortable situations for his majority female class. He participated in alcohol-drinking sessions/parties with students. Is this permitted by IIT Bombay?
Incited students into joining activism to earn their trust and control their behavior
Creating such an environment eventually led to sexual harassment of female students. He started sending inappropriate WhatsApp messages to students. There are more allegations but we will let IIT Bombay, who have investigated this matter, to officially confirm.
Another female student under the safety of anonymity alleged the following :
“The same professor used to teach us in class that the body doesn’t have any identity and we should explore it. The body can be submitted to experience the highest forms of pleasure in life. The youth has to free it from all the shackles of culture, and society so it can experience natural passions through love and intimacy. For intimacy, there is no threshold. To define “acceptable” forms of relationships the professor narrated his story of how he married one of his students and there is no taboo about it.
The professor also asked me uncomfortable questions about intimacy. He also told me to free my soul and he knows a way of doing it. He invited me to meet outside. I cried after this incident and shared this with other humanities profs but they told me that my degree would be withheld if I speak about this incident to anybody. Also, the Gender cell is not a safe place for women. They keep the cases pending and that results in pressure on students to take the complaints back. Even after a few years, I have not come out of this trauma.”
We can not independently verify these claims.
It is a matter of grave concern that even at a premier institute gradual breakdown of safety is allegedly allowed under what can only be called grooming of students. The position of trust a professor enjoys and the power he holds over the students makes this matter much worse. We hope IIT Bombay publishes facts in a transparent manner so such incidents and red flags preceding it can be avoided in all educational institutions.
