IIT-M suicide : 2 students begin indefinite fast, CCB summons three faculty members
Chennai/UNI: Two students of IIT-Madras have commenced an indefinite fast under the banner of 'ChintaBar'--a students body--demanding an internal probe against the faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences Department, blamed for the suicide of first year girl student Fathima Latheef in her hostel room on November nine.
As sought by the parent's of the girl, the two students, Azhar Moideen, a final year humanities student, and Justin Joseph, pursuing Ph.d in the same stream,
began an indefinite fast holding placards demanding a fair and unbiased probe into the suicide and against three faculty members purportedly named by Fathima.
The fasting students in a representation to the IIT Director Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthy, have demanded an internal inquiry by setting up a committee as sought by the family of Fathima.
“The inaction of the institute in addressing the structural issues that have led to more and more suicides is appalling. We need a safer academic space,” Azhar said.
In the representation, they also demanded setting up of a committee of experts from outside, to study the overall mental well being of students and the effectiveness of the existing mechanisms and platforms in tackling the issues faced by the students, and grievances redressal cells in each of the deparments.
"Our main demand is an internal inquiry into the conduct of faculty. Fathima's parents in their letter to the IIT Director has sought an internal probe into the conduct of faculty and we are backing their demand,'' Azhar said.
Asked whether the management had called them for talks, he said "we just got a reply and going through it."
Fathima's parents claimed that their daughter was subjected to discrimination on religious lines, forcing her to take the extreme step and named three faculty members.
As several political parties, including the Opposition DMK, demanded a fair and impartial probe into the incident, the investigation was transferred to the Central Crime Branch (CCB) wing of the city police.
Meanwhile, the three faculty members of Humanities and Social Sciences department have been summoned by the CCB for inquiry and they were expected to appear before the investigating team on Tuesday.
Besides summoning the three faculty members for questioning, the CCB was awaiting the forensic report of the mobile phone to proceed further.
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