IIT Roorkee sacks 60-year-old professor over sexual harassment of PhD scholar

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee has sacked a faculty member over alleged sexual harassment of a PhD scholar. 60-year-old professor Zillur Rahman has been dismissed from service following the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings.

“This is to inform that an Institute faculty member has been dismissed from service following the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings. The action was taken in accordance with the provisions of the CCS (CCA) Rules and the Institute’s statutory procedures,” the institute said in an official statement.

A PhD scholar doing research under Rahman levelled the sexual harassment charges against the professor in January this year. Rahman was one of the senior-most professors at the IIT and served as the head of Department of Management Studies (DoMS). Over 15 research scholars were doing their PhD under the faculty member’s supervision when he was dismissed.

“IIT Roorkee remains committed to upholding the highest standards of professional ethics and institutional integrity,” IIT Roorkee added.

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Rahman studied BSc (Honours) Mathematics in 1989 and MSc in mathematics in 1990 from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). He took an MBA degree in 1992 and completed PhD in business administration in 1996 from the same university.

He joined IITR as assistant professor at DoMS in 1999 and served as an associate professor in the department from 2009 to 2018. Rahman headed the department from 2016 to 2019 and later became a professor. The professor has been felicitated with several awards during his career so far.

With inputs from PTI