The high court has brought forward the date of in-person appearance of the IIT Kharagpur director in a case related to the death of a student on the campus, following an appeal that the appearance, originally scheduled for January 24, be postponed. Director V.K. Tewari cited personal reasons while seeking postponement of his appearance in the court.
Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, in whose court the appeal came up for hearing, advanced Tewari’s appearance date to January 20.
R.N. Majumder, one of the two lawyers representing the IIT, said: “We moved an appeal so the hearing could be deferred. But the court has brought the date forward and scheduled the director’s appearance for January 20.
Ranajit Chatterjee, one of the lawyers representing the family of Faizan Ahmed, the student who was found dead in a hostel room in October, said the hearing would be held in the court of Justice Mantha.
The judge had on December 6 struck down an appeal by lawyers representing the IIT that the director be excused from making an in-person appearance in the court and ordered him to appear on January 24.
Faizan’s aunt, Salma, said: “We are happy to know that the date has been brought forward. More than three months have passed since Faizan was found dead on the campus. We had to file a writ petition as the institution and the police failed to give us justice. We suspect it was a case of ragging and the court is our only resort.”
This newspaper’s repeated calls to the director on Thursday went unanswered.
Faizan, a third-year student of mechanical engineering, was found dead in a hostel room on October 14.
The high court had asked the IIT director to appear in court after expressing its dissatisfaction with the report he had submitted in November on the steps the institution had taken in regard to what appeared to the court as a case of “ragging”.
Aniruddha Mitra, another lawyer representing Faizan’s family, said: “The lawyers appearing for the IIT made an ex-parte mention in the court seeking a deferment (of the director’s appearance) apparently citing a foreign tour. But the court struck down the plea.
“The appearance of the director is a must because the court expressed its dissatisfaction with his report on steps the institution had taken in regard to an assimilation programme, which we view as a glorified version of ragging. Had the authorities taken effective measures to curb ragging, Faizan would have been alive today.”
Justice Mantha in his December 2 order said this court “reiterates that it is interested to know what steps have been taken by the” director or his administration after learning about the incident mentioned in the email that the “victim” (Faizan) had sent to the authorities on February 4, 2022.
A writ petition Faizan’s parents had filed in the court in October said the student had declined to be part of an “assimilation programme” at the RP Hall of Residence in February and March.
The family has alleged that Faizan was humiliated and harassed because of his refusal to join the programme.
“Although he subsequently changed his hostel, he could not escape the wrath of senior students, who were furious because he dared to complain. As the authorities did not take any effective steps, they kept tormenting him, leading to his death,” said lawyer Mitra.
Dean IIT Kharagpur has appointed Bhargab Maitra as a new full-term dean of students’ affairs more than three months after the previous dean quit following students’ unrest over Faizan’s death.
