The chorus around justice for 18-year-old IIT Bombay student, Darshan Solanki, who died on February 12 by allegedly jumping off the seventh floor of his hostel building over a casteist remark, is gaining momentum.
The aspiring student, who was among many SC/ST students studying at the prestigious institute, was allegedly facing ostracisation due to his caste.
The Mumbai police, who is investigating the case, maintains that there is no caste discrimination angle to Darshan’s death. But the bereaved family has demanded probe into Darshan’s death who said he had mentioned about facing social discrimination on campus.
Darshan’s sister, Jhanavi Solanki told News18, “I always use to ask him, how is IIT? how is the campus, the culture? Is everything alright there? He used to say that the SC/ST discrimination was prevalent there as he narrated to me that some students who got to know about his status are envious of him. Once when he wanted a laptop of one of his friends for work, he was refused and told ‘you don’t know such a simple thing’. But he said it wasn’t a concern as a matter of fact.”
A member of Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), on condition of anonymity, told CNN-News18 Darshan confided into a senior Scheduled Caste student at IIT Bombay that he was facing discrimination “day in, day out”.
“After we heard the news, it only reflected that an 18-year-old IIT students died. We further investigated and it came to light that in December, 2022 Darshan approached a senior Uday Singh Meena and shared that he was facing discrimination. They met thrice in November. Some batch mates of Darshan asked him his rank, that’s a clear marker of knowing whether a student came from SC or ST background. Comments were passed that you are ‘quota students’, which he revealed to Uday. This issue has a history at all IITs,” he said.
Throwing light on the alleged discrimination at IIT Bombay, the APPSC member said that their study circle had conducted an open house on the campus in which over 50 students admitted that caste discrimination takes place at the institute. In an open forum, the students talked about how the general category students treat their SC/ST counterparts and boycott them.
“In 2014, when one Aniket Ambhore died, a committee was formed and recommendations were given but they never got implemented… Students demanded that recommendations be implemented but only an SC/ST Cell was constituted. The Cell doesn’t have any powers or follows the reservation mandate,” he added.
Campus insiders revealed that the SC/ST Cell had last year conducted a survey where 100 students testified that they were facing caste discrimination, as a result of which, many were having mental health issues. The report on the findings was never published and no suo-motu action against the erring students was taken, the sources added.
Mainly the IIT-Bombay faculty members are heading the SC/ST Cell who act only when students approach them over misconduct, the sources explained.
“We believe not following reservation mandate, casteist practices, ignoring such kind of discrimination, Darshan Solanki had to go to the extent to end his life. That’s why, we feel it’s an institutional murder and not a suicide,” said the APPSC member.
According to Faisal Shaikh, Vice-President, NSUI Mumbai, not just one, several students are echoing APPSC’s sentiments. “This is a serious allegation. The National Commission of Schedule Tribes has given the institution recommendations to appoint a councillor to counsel SC/ ST students, but that is not happening to my knowledge.”
Meanwhile, IIT Bombay had issued a statement defending themselves in the wake of series of allegations around caste discrimination prevalent within the campus. “IIT Bombay strongly refutes claims in some news articles about the tragic death of a first-year B. Tech student, that imply that the cause was discrimination, and say it amounted to “institutional murder”. It is wrong to make such accusations when the police are still investigating the case. Based on initial inputs from friends, there is no indication that the student faced any such discrimination. We request that such unfounded allegations not be spread. Please wait for the completion of the ongoing police investigation, as well as an internal investigation by IIT which will be done in a time bound manner.”
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