Prof. Giridhar Madras of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru — who is facing sexual harassment charges — has been asked to take “compulsory retirement”,
The internal committee that was set up in accordance with the guidelines of the institute’s anti-sexual harassment policy found Madras, a faculty member of chemical engineering, guilty of sexual misconduct after a month-long investigation.
The complaint was filed by one of his former students and a current PhD scholar in the chemical engineering department.
The student has accused him of making “sexually coloured” remarks and harassing her with repeated late-night phone calls.
The media has reached representatives of the three science academies, IISc, and the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize committee at CSIR for comments but there was no response until the time of publishing this report. The reported will be updated when they respond.
Madras had been a highly respected member of the science community and is one of the highest cited researchers in chemical engineering. He is a recipient of the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, and a J.C. Bose National Fellow.
Madras has been with IISc since 1998 and has received the IISc Excellence Award in teaching and research. He holds fellowships from all the three national science academies — the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Science of India — as well as the Indian National Academy of Engineering.
Whether Madras will lose his fellowships and awards is not yet known.
