IIT Ropar sacks assistant professor accused of sexual harassment

The Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (IIT Ropar) has sacked an assistant professor accused in a sexual harassment case, sources confirmed. The assistant professor, from the Department of Physics, was on a probation period of one year.

According to an official statement, assistant professor Lakhan Bainsla was on a probation period of one year. Stating his conduct as “not satisfactory”, IIT Ropar decided to terminate his services, the notice read.

“Dr Lakhan Bainsla, Assistant Professor is hereby terminated from the services of this Institute with immediate effect from 24.07.2026 (A/N). Dr. Bainsla is required to clear his No Dues within a period of one week,” IIT Ropar said in the notice.

Also read ‘Part of culture’? IIT Ropar PhD scholars say fear keeps harassment cases buried, rarely reach ICC

Harassment cases at IIT Ropar

The engineering institute has also asked Bainsla to complete his deus formality within one week.

Recently, a PhD student at IIT Ropar reported a sexual assault incident, stating that she was “mental tortured and sexual assaulted” by her supervisor.

After the engineering campus did not took any solid stance on the incident, the PhD student approached a community of researchers on “collapse of the academic boundaries”.

Alleging that the professor misused his professional relationship for sexual interest, the PhD student said that the professor "weaponised” his academic authority and tried to impact her research.