The family of Garima Agarwal — a 29-year-old student of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, who tried to take her own life last month — has demanded justice for her. Agarwal consumed a handful of medication, in a bid to overdose, at her residence in Delhi on December 14. According to her family, she had been suffering from depression as her PhD thesis had been ‘plagiarised’.
An FIR was lodged in this case at the Shahdara police station in Delhi on December 19, under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code. During a press conference in Pune organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Friday, Garima’s sister Dr Shilpi Goel demanded action against IISER faculty and authorities, and claimed that they had harassed Garima. According to the FIR, Garima, who is from Mathura, had taken admission in M.Sc and Ph.D (Mathematics) at IISER Pune in 2016. In 2020, due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the college management asked all students to go home. Garima came to Delhi and started living with her sister.
In September 2020, IISER faculty member Dr Anindya Goswami became Garima’s supervisor for PhD and M.Sc. According to the FIR, another student, Shristi Gupta, was also completing her thesis under Goswami’s guidance. Garima said due to work from home, she was presenting her work to Goswami during online meetings, which were also attended by Gupta. As per the FIR, Gupta submitted her M.Sc thesis to IISER, in which she allegedly copied Garima’s work presented during the online meetings with Goswami. Gupta claimed it was her work and Goswami too certified it, saying it was done under his supervision, states the FIR. Garima said she was shocked when she realised her thesis had been plagiarised, but ignored it fearing that the supervisor would damage her career if she brought it up with him. Meanwhile, Gupta got her M.Sc degree from IISER and then took admission in a MBA course in Delhi University.
Garima said she again started her PhD work under Goswami. According to the FIR, by July 2022, Garima had completed her work and it was ready to be published in the journal. But then she got to know that Goswami had allegedly put Gupta’s name as ‘author’ on the thesis. This time, Garima called Goswami and questioned him about it. But Goswami allegedly told Garima that he had “promised” Gupta and wanted to “launch her in academia”. Goswami also allegedly threatened to damage Garima’s career if she filed a complaint over the issue, according to the FIR. On July 25, 2022, Garima’s sister Shilpa filed a detailed complaint to the IISER director through email. The institute conducted an inquiry into this complaint and passed an order on November 22.
“IISER found Goswami guilty and passed an order that he should not supervise any new student for the next one year. But in the same order, I was given directions to work with Goswami….due to this, I started suffering from depression,” Garima stated in the FIR and sought action against Goswami, Gupta and the IISER director. “My sister was deeply disturbed because of plagiarism. She was not getting justice, so in her complaints to IISER by email, she stated that she had lost her desire to live… Even after the inquiry, Garima was asked to work with the same supervisor who was found guilty. She was so depressed that she tried to die by suicide at our Delhi residence… An FIR has been lodged and we demand action against IISER officials responsible for my sister’s condition. She was in the ICU for treatment. Her condition is not stable yet,” said Shilpi.
“Probe is on. We have not contacted IISER officials yet. The investigation is at an initial stage,” said Sub-Inspector Arjun Singh of Shahdara police station. IISER said, “The complaint received on this matter was attended to without any delay by the institute administration. Following a panel inquiry, the institute took punitive action against the supervisor commensurate with the severity of the fault, which was improper management of credit-sharing between two collaborating students. The supervisor has cooperated fully with the proceedings and has also submitted a compliance report.”
“The Dean Academics and department chairperson had reached out more than a month ago to the student-complainant, whose PhD research has now been published, and had promised to facilitate the process of completion of her PhD degree with minimum involvement from the supervisor. In early September 2022, Dean Academics had also offered counsellor support from the institute to the student. The institute requests that the student work with IISER administration to complete her PhD degree,” it stated.
When contacted, Dr Goswami told The Indian Express, “It is not appropriate to comment as the matter is with the police. I feel there is a misunderstanding. The institute is a neutral body for all students”.
Shubhankar Bachal, president of ABVP’s Pune unit, said, “We have submitted letters to authorities concerned, seeking action against IISER authorities in this case.”
