New Delhi: All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has debarred a professor of Microbiology from guiding scholars after a 36-year-old PhD student allegedly attempted suicide. He accused his supervisor of mental harassment, abuse and delay in his fellowship as a cause of his extreme act.
All students under the female professor have been shifted to other faculty members, a senior doctor at the premier institute said. The student attempted suicide on March 25 at his residence in Gautam Nagar by consuming on drugs. In its aftermath, PhD students protested, demanding professor’s suspension. A committee was then formed to inquire the matter.
The fifth-year student in his letter to AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria alleged that he was being mentally harassed and humiliated by the supervisor under whom he got registered in August 2013.
“I have been under constant mental harassment and humiliation. She has time and again used filthy and abusive language in front of everyone. She scolds even when work is done correctly. My mental state is aggravated as she is not able to procure appropriate facilities, funds in the lab and makes no attempt to get the things done…my fellowship is delayed and this puts me in the additional financial problem and mental burden,” the student alleged in the letter.
The student further alleged that due to improper equipment and lack of safety measures in the lab, some research scholars have contracted Tuberculosis.