The chorus around justice for Darshan Solanki, an 18-year-old student of IIT Bombay who allegedly jumped to death from the seventh floor of his hostel building over a casteist remark on February 12, is gathering pace.
The aspiring student, who was one of the many SC/ST students studying at the prestigious institute, was reportedly facing ostracism because of his caste.
The Mumbai Police probing the case says that there is no caste discrimination in Darshan’s death. But the grieving family has demanded an inquiry into the death of Darshan, who they said had mentioned facing social discrimination on campus.
Darshan’s sister Jhanvi Solanki told News18, “I always used to ask him how is IIT? How is the campus culture? is everything ok there? He used to say that SC/ST discrimination was prevalent there as he told me that some students who came to know about his status envy him. Once when he wanted a friend’s laptop for work, he was refused and told that ‘you don’t know that simple’. But he said that it is not really a matter of concern.
A member of the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) told CNN-News18 on condition of anonymity that Darshan told a senior Scheduled Caste student at IIT Bombay that he was facing discrimination “day in, day out”. Had been.
“When we heard the news, it only reflected that an 18-year-old IIT student died. We probed further and it has come to light that in December, 2022 Darshan contacted a senior Uday Singh Meena and told that he was facing discrimination. They met three times in November. Some of Darshan’s classmates asked him his rank, a clear marker of whether a student came from an SC or ST background. Comments are passed that you are a ‘quota student’, which they tell Uday. This issue has a history in all IITs,” he said.
Highlighting the alleged discrimination in IIT Bombay, the APPSC member said that his study circle had organized an open house on the campus in which over 50 students accepted that caste discrimination takes place in the institute. In an open forum, the students talked about how general category students treat and ostracize their SC/ST counterparts.
“In 2014, when one Aniket Ambhore died, a committee was formed and recommendations were made but they were never implemented… The students demanded that the recommendations be implemented but only a SC/ST cell was formed Went. The cell has no authority or does not follow the order of reservation.
Campus insiders revealed that the SC/ST cell had conducted a survey last year where 100 students testified that they were facing caste discrimination, many of whom admitted to mental health issues as a result of it. Sources said the report on the findings was never published and no action was taken against the guilty students.
Sources said the SC/ST cell is headed primarily by faculty members of IIT-Bombay, who act only when students approach them about misconduct.
“We believe that not following the reservation mandate, casteist practices, ignoring such discrimination, Darshan Solanki had to go to such an extent to end his life. So, we think it is an institutional murder and not a suicide,” said the APPSC member.
According to Faisal Shaikh, Vice President, NSUI Mumbai, not just one, many students are echoing the sentiments of the APPSC. “This is a serious allegation. The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes has given recommendations to the institution to appoint a counselor for counseling SC/ST students, but this is not happening to my knowledge.
Meanwhile, IIT Bombay had issued a statement defending itself in the wake of series of allegations of caste discrimination prevalent within the campus. “IIT Bombay strongly refutes the claims in some news articles about the tragic death of a B.Tech first year student, implying that the cause was discrimination, and says it amounts to “institutional murder”. It is wrong to make allegations when the police is still investigating the matter. Based on initial information from friends, there is no indication that the student faced any such discrimination. We request that such baseless allegations Please wait for the completion of the ongoing police investigation as well as internal investigation by IIT which will be done in a time bound manner.
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