The Supreme Court has asked IIT Kanpur’s board of governors to amicably resolve a legal dispute between a Dalit assistant professor and four other faculty members over caste-based harassment, saying their “day-to-day conduct must be exemplary as the students of the institution follow in their footsteps”.

The assistant professor, Subrahmanyam Saderla, had lodged criminal cases and a case under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act accusing Chandra Shekhar Upadhya and three others of humiliating him for his Dalit identity and levelling false allegations in connection with a thesis he had submitted.

Saderla had approached the Supreme Court after Allahabad High Court quashed the proceedings against the four accused. The Supreme Court said the continuation of the criminal proceedings would be an impediment to the restoration of cordial relations between the assistant professor and the four accused.

The bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.K. Maheshwari passed the judgment while disposing of Saderla’s appeal against the Allahabad High Court decision.

“The attribution of allegations and counter-allegations also, in a way, damages the reputation of individuals as well as the institution. We, therefore, impress upon the appellant as well as the private respondents to ensure that they work together as a team in the best interests of the institution and their students, and do not allow any unfortunate and untoward incidents to occur which might hurt the sentiments, feelings, respect and dignity of each other,” the court said.

It recorded an undertaking from criminal lawyer Sidharth Luthra, appearing for the accused, that the respondent faculty members would like to resolve the issue amicably.

The apex court noted that Saderla, an assistant professor in the department of aerospace, has been commendably pursuing his academic career and interests and had been awarded a PhD. However, it appeared that some “unwarranted complaints” had been made questioning the originality of the PhD thesis submitted by Saderla, following which the Senate Postgraduate Committee of the IIT recommended its withdrawal and the revaluation of a revised version.

The board of governors approved the recommendations. Subsequently, a three-member technical expert committee in its report dated May 3, 2019, concluded that Saderla’s thesis had referred to material that was common knowledge in that specific field of study. However, the committee advised that a brief corrigendum by the appellant be appended to the thesis clearly identifying the texts referred to.

The court said Saderla had accepted the recommendations and issued a corrigendum on November 31, 2019. The board of governors accepted the corrigendum. The Supreme Court said the accused, who had denied the allegations and made counter-allegations, were not keen on the continuation of the criminal proceedings.

“The respondents have specifically denied their alleged role, directly or indirectly, in relation to any doubts which may have been created regarding the PhD thesis of the appellant or any type of social humiliation inflicted upon him,” the court said.

“The respondents sincerely undertake before this court that in the future as well, they will never do any such thing, or make any comments, which may hurt the sentiments and feelings of the appellant in any manner. We cannot be oblivious of the fact that the appellant and the respondents are faculty members in one of the premier institutes in the country. Their day-to-day conduct must be exemplary,” the court added.

“We feel that the continuation of criminal proceedings will be an impediment to restoration of normalcy and bringing cordiality back....”