The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, on Tuesday, removed a professor after a foreign student accused him of “inappropriate conduct”, PTI reported.

“Last week, a complaint was filed by a girl student against a faculty member for inappropriate conduct,” IIT-Kanpur said in a statement. “The internal complaints committee of the institute started investigations under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act following the Supreme Court guidelines. Immediately, on recommendations of the panel, the faculty member was removed from teaching responsibilities of the course in which the girl student was registered.”

The IIT-Kanpur administration said it has zero-tolerance policy against any “deviant behaviour” and strict action would be initiated once the recommendations of the panel were submitted.

The girl was part of a students’ exchange programme at the institute, the Hindustan Times reported. The student reportedly complained about the incident to the Women’s Cell on September 8 but the authorities allegedly did not take any notice and tried to cover up the matter. Thereafter, the student complained about it to the embassy of her country. The officers at the embassy directed the institute to investigate the matter.

The statement by IIT-Kanpur said the identity of the student will not be disclosed, and asked everyone, including media, to exercise restraint and not to reveal any details about the complainant while reporting the incident.

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