A senior professor in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K), facing charges of sexual harassment of a foreign student, will now be given compulsory retirement.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the board of governors over the weekend.

This will be the first time in the history of IIT-K that such a decision has been taken.

According to sources, the incident took place in September this year when the foreign student submitted a complaint that the professor in the civil engineering department had been sexually harassing her.

The IIT administration initially tried to suppress the issue and did not take any action for a week. The victim then forwarded her complaint to the women's cell and also to her Embassy.

After the intervention of the Embassy, the IIT official set up a probe. Other foreign students, faculty members and employees were questioned and CCTV footage was also screened.

After a three-month long inquiry held at various levels, the reports indicted the accused professor.

"The Board decided that the accused professor should be given compulsory retirement so that such incidents do not recur in the future. The process for retirement has been initiated," said a senior faculty member though the IIT administration has not yet issued any statement on the matter.