West Bengal: Decomposed body of 52-year-old IIT-Kharagpur professor found at campus quarters

West Bengal: Decomposed body of 52-year-old IIT-Kharagpur professor found at campus quarters

The mechanical engineering professor identified as Sati Nath Bhattacharayya was missing for several days and was found dead at his quarters.

Updated Feb 26, 2022 | 04:30 AM IST

West Bengal: Decomposed body of 52-year-old IIT-Kharagpur professor found at campus quarters




The 52-year-old was a mechanical engineering professor at IIT-Kharagpur.

A missing complaint was filed by IIT authorities after professor went missing around 10 days ago.

Kharagpur: A missing IIT-Kharagpur professor has been found dead at his campus quarters in Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal. The 52-year-old was a mechanical engineering professor at IIT-Kharagpur.

The victim has been identified as Sati Nath Bhattacharayya. He was missing for over a week. Police suspect the professor died some days back.

A missing complaint was filed by IIT authorities after professor went missing around 10 days ago. The body was recovered by Hijli police from his B-58 quarters. The body was later sent for autopsy, according to a report in Times of India.

"This is a very shocking case. We were unable to trace the professor for several days. Later, we informed police about the matter. We are trying to reach out to his friends and family members," the report quoted Tamal Nath, IIT-Kharagpur registrar, as saying.

Tamal said police are looking into his death and IIT authorities are cooperating with police.

The deceased had joined IIT-Kharagpur as assistant professor in the mechanical engineering department in 2000.

 Bhattacharyya later became professor and specialised in fluid mechanics.

Dharmendra Pradhan asks IITs, NITs, central institutions to stop de-reservation of seats:

Dharmendra Pradhan asks IITs, NITs, central institutions to stop de-reservation of seats: Report

The Union education minister has asked all central institutions to stop transferring unfilled reserved seats to the general category immediately.

Dharmendra Pradhan asks IITs, NITs, central institutions to stop transferring reserved seats to open category: Report
Vagisha Kaushik | Feb 23, 2022 - 1:37 p.m. IST

NEW DELHI: Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, has asked the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NIT) and central universities to stop transferring unfilled reserved seats to open category immediately, the Times of India reported. The education minister has asked the institutions to strictly follow the reservation policy, the report said.

Also Read | More than 10,000 seats across courses in IITs remained vacant in last 2 years, 8,700 in NITs

The education minister has reportedly sought a compliance report from the institutions at the earliest. Pradhan has also asked colleges to reduce the cutoffs for the reserved category if required and provide them with additional year of study, as per the report.

Also Read | IIT PhD scholar protests against ‘discrimination’ in IITs in front of education ministry

A senior official of the education ministry told TOI, “It has come to the notice of the ministry that some central educational institutions or agencies have been carrying out de-reservation of unfilled General-EWS and OBC (non-creamy layer) seats by transferring them to the open or general category during admissions. We have also received a number of verbal and written intimations of such practices in recent times.”

Also Read | 58% student suicides in IITs, NITs, central institutions from SC, ST, OBC, minority communities

The official added that the education minister instructed central institutions including IITs and NITs to stop the de-reservation immediately and to follow the reservation-related provisions in letter and spirit, the report said.

Further, Pradhan asked the institutions to ensure that the reserved seats are filled and to provide coaching and supplementary year of study to disadvantaged students if required along with support for exams, counselling and admissions.

FATIMA LATHEEF CBI ENQUIRY,

Suicide IIT, suicide, iit
Daily update ⋅ 19 February 2022

CBI says IIT-M student Fathima died by suicide, rules out mental harassment | The News Minute
The News Minute
A special investigation team of the Tamil Nadu police was constituted to probe her death after her family alleged that she was driven to suicide. The ...

IIT-M student Fathima committed suicide, concludes CBI - Free Press Journal
Free Press Journal
Chennai: Fathima Latheef, an IIT-Madras student, committed suicide, according to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which probed her death ...


CBI winds up IIT-Madras student Fathima committed suicide | NewsTrack English 1
NewsTrack English - News Track Live, NewsTrack
CHENNAI: The investigation into the death of IIT-Madras student Fathima Latheef by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has found that .

The Central Bureau of Investigation That Probed the Death of IIT-Madras - Latestly
Latestly
The latest Tweet by IANS India states, 'The Central Bureau of Investigation that probed the death of IIT-Madras student #FathimaLatheef has ...

CBI concludes probe into death of IIT-M student Fathima,

CHENNAI
CBI concludes probe into death of IIT-M student Fathima

R. Sivaraman

R. Sujatha

FEBRUARY 17, 2022 22:01 IST



The Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Photo Credit: K. PICHUMANI

The Central agency reportedly found no evidence of harassment

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a final report closing the investigation into the death of 19-year-old Fathima Latheef at IIT-Madras hostel, concluding that it was a case of death by suicide due to homesickness and recording that the student had psychological issues, said sources. In its conclusions, the report matches with the one already submitted by the special investigation team headed by the then Additional Commissioner of Police, Central Crime Branch, C. Eswaramoorthy in 2019.

Fathima, 19, from Kollam, had joined IIT-M in July 2019 and was a first year student of M.A. Humanities. She was found dead in her Room No, 349 at Sarayu Hostel on the campus on November 9.

Initially the case was investigated by Kotturpuram police under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code for unnatural death. After retrieving a suicide note from her phone, her father Latheef alleged that she had been facing harassment forcing her to take the extreme step. He met the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and demanded a thorough probe, besides raising serious allegations against a professor.

The death of the student had sparked protests from political parties and student organisations. The case was transferred to a special team, led by then Additional Commissioner of Police, Central Crime Branch (CCB), and it submitted a report that there was no prima facie evidence of the three professors she had named abetting the suicide. Later, the case was transferred to the CBI in December 2019.

Now, the CBI, after completing the investigation, has filed a final report containing 2,000 pages in a special court for the CBI cases recently. It has concluded that Fathima ended her life because she had been homesick and had some psychological issues. It ruled out the probability of any mental harassment.

Mohammed Shah P. A., advocate for Mr. Latheef, said, “The CBI has now filed a final report stating that was a suicide — we have serious objections with this. Now, the court has issued notices to the parents of the victim. On Wednesday, we got the chargesheet. The matter was posted to February 28. We are going to file objections pointing out certain serious lapses on investigation.”

Mr. Shah said, “The enthusiasm of the warden to explain that homesickness is the reason for her death is suspect. Now, the CBI concluded that Fathima committed suicide due to homesickness. The CBI has no answer as to why she specifically mentioned the name of a professor immediately before her death and why she has not opted to write names of any other persons. Even when the CBI concludes that Fathima is having psychological issues the above question is necessarily to be answered.”

Role of teachers

He said the role of the teachers is highly important and no investigation with respect to their involvement was carried out by CBI. He said the CBI conducted the investigation by taking statements of the persons in a pick and choose method to conclude that Fathima committed suicide due to homesickness.

One of the student bodies, Chinta Bar had staged a protest on the campus demanding an internal probe. A student who participated in the protest and has since graduated said: “Initially the institute said it was cooperating. We sat on hunger strike and one of the demands was that there should be an internal investigation. The other demand was for student fraternity as a whole to tackle the issue of mental health of the students,” the student said.

The institute had declined to conduct an internal inquiry citing the ongoing police investigation. “The institute said the investigation was delayed because of COVID. Recently, the family had got to know unofficially that the CBI had not charged anyone. The family was looking to take this up legally but I don’t know what happened,” the graduate added.

With the institute yet to open, there has not been much interaction among students either, he added. “The incident happened when she had barely been in the institute for less than three months. The students were just beginning to get accustomed to college life. Soon afterwards with COVID breaking out the college hasn’t been opened,” he pointed out.

( Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050).

10k seats remained vacant across IITs in 2 years

10k seats remained vacant across IITs in 2 years 

By Oneindia Correspondent | Published: Thursday, February 10, 2022, 

Over 10,000 seats across different courses remained vacant in various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) during the last two years, while over 8,700 seats were vacant in National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday. Pradhan gave the information in a written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, PTI said in a report. 

According to the data, 5,484 seats remained unfilled in IITs in 2020-21. 

Of them, 476 seats were vacant in undergraduate courses (BTech), 3,229 seats in postgraduate courses, and 1,779 in PhD courses. 

In 2021-22, the number of vacant seats in IITs were 5,296, slightly lower than the previous year. 

Of them, 361 seats remained vacant in BTech courses, 3,083 in postgraduate courses and 1,852 in PhD courses. 

In NITs, the data showed, while 3,741 seats across various courses were vacant in 2020-21, the number further increased to 5,012 in 2021-22. Of them, maximum seats remain unfilled in postgraduate courses i.e. 2,487 in 2020-21 and 3, 413 in 2021-22. 

How Taran Singh An Ex-IITian helps aspiring engineering students prepare better "The premier engineering colleges like IITs, NITs and IIITs impart education and research in science and technology subjects and are categorised as Institutions of National Importance. The admission to various programmes in these institutions are strictly offered only to deserving candidates based on the ranking/ other parameters, who fulfil the required eligibility criteria," the minister said. (PTI)

Read more at: https://www.oneindia.com/india/10k-seats-remained-vacant-across-iits-in-2-years-3369728.html?story=1