IIT Professor Suspended For Abusing Students During Online Class

An Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur professor has been suspended for hurling abuses at Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) students during an online class.

A fact-finding committee, which was set up after the incident took place in April, found Seema Singh guilty.

“Seema Singh has been suspended after getting the report of the fact-finding committee. She will resume only after further orders are issued. The inquiry will follow after this suspension as per the procedures,” a News18 report quoted IIT Kharagpur registrar Tamal Nath as saying.

Videos of Seema Singh’s online class had gone viral last month. In one of them, the professor was heard using expletives repeatedly. She addressed the students as “bloody bast****”, and threatened to make sure they failed in exams.

Another video showed her turning down a student’s request to exempt her from attending classes because of her grandfather’s death.

Terming the request as ‘shocking’, the professor told the student: “I am a Hindu… I know there are some customs to be done, but I also know that in these COVID times, there is a restriction on all these religious rituals.”