AFTER IIT DELHI and Madras, faculty forums of IIT Kanpur and Indore have extended their support to Professor Suryanarayana Doolla who has been removed from the post of Dean (Administrative Affairs) at IIT Bombay following the suicide of a student.Professor Doolla was the invigilator in the hall where students, including Sahil Wakode, were taking a test. Doolla allegedly caught Sahil with a mobile phone and using ChatGPT inside the hall. Later that day, the student died by suicide.IIT Kanpur faculty forum in a statement said: “…While we mourn the loss of a young life, we are also alarmed by the sequence of events which are unfolding following this tragic event. As per the press release of IIT Bombay Faculty Forum, Prof Suryanarayana Doolla was only discharging his duties as the course instructor and invigilator.”Also Read | Found with phone in exam hall, IIT Bombay student ends life, protests rock campusVery serious allegations have been made against him including a registered FIR which has seriously damaged his reputation and has instilled fear of an imminent arrest, the statement said. “We believe that faculty members should be able to discharge their responsibility of upholding academic integrity of the evaluation process with immunity against such personal vilification,” the statement added.The faculty forum requested for an “appropriate enquiry committee” to objectively examine the facts of the incident in a fair, transparent and time-bound manner. “…No individual be held responsible anywhere and in any form before the due process is completed,” it said.Also Read | ‘They finished my son’: Father of IIT Bombay student who died by suicideStating that media trials and social media speculation cause permanent harm to all concerned, the IIT Kanpur faculty forum appealed to students, faculty, administration, media and the public to “show restraint and sensitivity, thereby allowing the process to establish the facts”.“Upholding the academic standards and reputation of our institutions is the joint responsibility of all the stakeholders and any damage to it has far-reaching consequences for all as well. The lIT Kanpur Faculty Forum stands in solidarity with our fraternity at IIT Bombay in this difficult time,” it said.Story continues below this adAlso Read | IIT-Bombay student dies by suicide: ‘He was good in academics, had Civil Services plans, there was nothing worrisome’The IIT-Indore faculty forum urged a fair, transparent and time-bound investigation into the matter.The forum said it considers it a matter of serious concern when a faculty member, while performing an officially assigned academic responsibility under established institutional procedures, is exposed to personal vilification and legal challenges.Also Read | IIT Bombay suicide: Activist Sudheendra Kulkarni seeks withdrawal of SC/ST case“Such developments have serious implications far beyond an individual faculty member… A faculty member must be able to uphold academic regulations fairly and conscientiously without fear of personal repercussions for carrying out their legitimate duties… Grief arising from a tragic event cannot by itself become the basis for assigning personal culpability to a faculty member who was carrying out an established academic procedure,” the statement said. It said “responsibility, if any, must emerge from facts established through due process and not from presumption or public pressure”.The Indore faculty forum said it expects IIT Bombay to extend all necessary institutional support to Prof Doolla and his family, including legal, financial, psychological and security-related assistance, as may be required.Story continues below this adAlso Read | From IIT-Bombay to the dining table, everyone is recording — and turning memory into evidenceOn Monday, the faculty forums of IIT Delhi and Madras issued statements in support of Professor Doolla. IIT Bombay professors took out a protest march on the campus, holding placards and posters expressing solidarity with their colleague.