Suryakant Waghmore, a professor of sociology at IIT-Bombay, has slammed the Faculty Forum of the institution for siding with Professor Suryanarayana Doolla in the case involving the suicide of a student, and claimed that the faculty organisation is trying to build pressure on the committee investigating the matter.
“Faculty forum is not a legal body.. they are building pressure on investigation committee. Not all faculty identify with this group..” Waghmore said in a post on X in which he also shared the statement issued by the Faculty Forum of IIT-B.
Waghmore has also slammed the forum for launching a protest after Doolla was removed from his deanship of the institute.
In another X post, Waghmore said, “deanship is taken and they are protesting. Is deanship birth right? What kind of dean speaks to students with such insensitivity?”
“We strongly express our solidarity with our colleague Prof. , who was discharging his duties in line with the institute’s Senate approved academic policies currently in force,” the forum’s statement read.
“Prof. Doolla, the course instructor, was invigilating in the midsemester examination from 11-00 to 13-00 on Friday 18th September 2026, when he observed that a student was indulging in an academic malpractice, viz., unauthorized possession and use of a smart-phone during the exam. As part of the institute approved procedure, he reported the incident to institute authorities for further action in the matter.”
“The Faculty Forum of IIT Bombay is absolutely distressed with the tarnishing of the reputation of our colleague Prof. Suryanarayana Doolla, who was merely discharging his academic duties, and following the institute approved procedures,” the statement added.
Suryakant Waghmore is a professor of sociology at the IIT-Bombay.
A PhD in Sociology as a Commonwealth Scholar from University of Edinburgh (2010), Waghmore completed his undergraduate studies in Political Science, History and Economics from Karnataka University (1999) and did a postgraduation in Community Development from TISS (2001).
Before he joined IIT-B, Waghmore served as Professor and Chairperson at the Centre for Social Justice and Governance at TISS. he has also served in visiting professorship capacities at the School of Social Development and Policy, Fudan University (2019), Centre for South Asia – Stanford University (2013); School of Humanities – Hyderabad Central University (2011); Centre for Modern Indian Studies – Univeristy of Göttingen (2015).
As per his own words that appear on the official website of the institute, his research includes the study of “social exclusion, politics at margins, policy processes and state-civil society relations.”
