The IIT Kharagpur administration has tendered “unconditional apologies” and taken “responsibility for the lapses that occurred in the handling of the situation” in the aftermath of the death of a third-year student last week.
The partially decomposed body of Faizan Alam, a third-year student of mechanical engineering from Assam, was found in his hostel room on the IIT campus after the authorities broke open the door on October 14.
The lapses stemmed, what the students alleged, “from the glaring lack of empathy towards the grieving family from certain faculty members of the administration”.
The Scholars’ Avenue, a campus newspaper run by students, posted a message on Facebook alleging that “it is incomprehensible how one can be shameless enough to scoff while a family that had lost their child wanted to be heard”.
“The student representatives had to compensate for the lack of empathy and maturity of several faculty members who only agreed to meet Faizan’s family after multiple attempts and modes of contact by the student representatives, some even refusing thereafter,” the Facebook post reads.
A fourth-year student told this newspaper that the student representatives had been threatened with disciplinary action and a police case for repeatedly trying to persuade the administration to perform their “moral duty”.
After a large number of students met the IIT Kharagpur director, V.K. Tewari, and deputy director Amit Patra to express their outrage, the deputy director issued a statement on Thursday night, tendering “unconditional apologies” and taking “responsibility for the lapses”.
The statement says: “There is a gap in communication between the authorities and the parents of the deceased student owing to which no faculty members had contacted the parents or any family members despite the fact that at least the deputy director, dean of students’ affairs and the faculty advisor of the deceased student were expected to do so.… The faculty advisor of the student exhibited inappropriate behaviour towards the parents of the deceased student as well as the students in the meeting with them.”
Calls and text messages to the director and the deputy director from this newspaper failed to elicit any response.
