IIT-Delhi faculty members support Professor Suryanarayana Doolla after his removal as dean.
NEW DELHI: Faculty members at IIT-Delhi on Monday expressed support for IIT-Bombay professor Suryanarayana Doolla, who was removed as dean of administrative affairs following student protests over the death by suicide of 20-year-old BTech student Sahil Wakode. Mumbai Police has booked Doolla under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), pertaining to abetment to suicide, following a complaint by Wakode’s family. The incident occurred hours after he was allegedly caught using a mobile phone to access ChatGPT during a mid-semester examination.
Wakode, a second-year BTech student in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering from Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district, was found hanging in his hostel room on the IIT-Bombay campus on Friday evening.
The forum said allegations against Doolla had been made publicly without credible evidence and expressed solidarity with him, his students and Wakode’s family. It also criticised what it described as attempts to tarnish the professor’s reputation. The forum also highlighted Doolla’s role in launching student welfare initiatives during his tenure as dean of student affairs.