IIT Bombay student death: Family says he faced caste discrimination; suspects 'murder'

AHMEDABAD: The family of an IIT-Bombay student who allegedly committed suicide has claimed he faced discrimination at the premier institute for belonging to a Scheduled Caste community and suspected foul play in his death, while the Mumbai police on Wednesday said they have started recording statements of his hostel mates as part of their probe into the case.

In Mumbai, the police citing the initial probe said the student, Darshan Solanki (18), had spoken to his father in Ahmedabad for around 30 minutes before ending his life on Sunday but did not mention anything about facing caste discrimination at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

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The IIT Bombay administration on Tuesday rejected charges of caste bias in the institute and said initial inputs from the deceased's friends suggested there was no discrimination. A senior police official involved in the probe said the student's parents had not raised any objection to the investigation or expressed doubt over their son's suicide when they came to Mumbai on Monday to take possession of his body.

However, in Ahmedabad, the family of the student claimed he faced discrimination at the premier institute for belonging to an SC community and that there was a strong possibility that he was “murdered”. Darshan Solanki, a first-year student of BTech (chemical), died allegedly after jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building on the Powai campus of the IIT on Sunday (Feb 12). His family members, who live in the Maninagar area of Ahmedabad city, claimed through Darshan Solanki faced “discrimination for being a Dalit”, he could not have taken his own life.

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“I strongly believe that my son was murdered. Hours before his death, he had called us but he talked normally and gave no indication that he was under any tension. However, when he came home during Makar Sankranti (in mid-January), he informed his aunt that other students were keeping distance from him. They were upset because Darshan made such progress (in academics),” said his mother Tarlikaben Solanki.

The deceased student's father Rameshbhai Solanki alleged the institute as well as hospital authorities had tried to cover up the matter and performed a post-mortem on the body even before he reached Mumbai. “I do not think it was a case of suicide. If you fall from the seventh floor, you will sustain many injuries. But, when I saw my son’s face after the post-mortem, I did not see any injuries. How is that possible? Moreover, the PM (post-mortem) was done in a haste and that too without our permission. I was allowed to see only his face after the PM,” claimed Rameshbhai Solanki.

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Darshan Solanki’s sister Jahnvi said the IIT-B management kept changing its stand about the reasons behind her brother's death. “His body was not shown to my parents, neither before nor after the PM. Earlier, the institute told us that he fell down the stairs. Then, the principal told us that my brother jumped from the building. Do they think we are fools? It seems that my brother was murdered,” said Jahnvi Solanki.

The late student's aunt Divyaben said Darshan Solanki once told her other pupils had started maintaining distance from him upon learning he belonged to an SC community. “In January, he told me that other students were jealous of him. They used to ask Darshan ‘how come you are studying for free while we have to spend a lot of money?’. They used to taunt him and ask him how he secured admission. Darshan was harassed there. But, he could not have taken his life due to such tension. It seems he was first murdered and then thrown off the building,” she claimed.

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However, the Mumbai police said Darshan Solanki's parents, who visited the IIT campus in suburban Powai after the incident, in their initial statements had not raised any objection on probe or expressed doubt over their son's suicide. Darshan Solanki had spoken for half an hour with his father before ending his life, but during the conversation he had not said anything about facing discrimination in the institute, said the police official.

He said statements of more than a dozen persons have been recorded so far as part of probe to ascertain what led the student to take the extreme step. Darshan Solanki had told his father he will be visiting home on February 15, said the official. "The police are thoroughly investigating the case and each and every aspect will be examined to know the exact cause of the suicide," he said.

Earlier in the day, Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale visited the IIT B campus and demanded a thorough probe into Darshan Solanki's death. Athawale said Darshan Solanki had called his father on Sunday and informed him that except for one paper, all his other first-semester exams went well.

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Meanwhile, a student collective at the IIT Bombay demanded the resignation of the institute's director in the backdrop of the alleged suicide and allegations he was facing caste discrimination. The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) also sought that a report of the SC/ST Cell of the IIT Bombay, which it claimed talks about the lack of institutional support for Dalit and tribal students on the campus, be made public.

In a statement, the APPSC, said, “We demand resignation of the institute director in the light of these new facts and hope the administration will start the much-needed learning process, at least now. Data prepared by the SC/ST Cell points towards the lack of institutional support for SC/ST students at the IIT B.”

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The student body alleged the IIT-B administration has not appointed any SC/ST counsellors even after its complaints and said this shows blatant disregard towards the pupils. However, the institute on Tuesday said it takes utmost precautions to make the campus as inclusive as possible and it has zero tolerance for any discrimination by faculty.

Caste identity is never disclosed to anyone (whether students or faculty) once the admission is done and the institute sensitises students to not seek proxy information such as ranks in entrance exams, it said in a statement. The institute gives strong warnings against discrimination right from the time students enter the IIT campus. While no steps can be 100 per cent effective, discrimination by students, if at all it occurs, is an exception, the statement said.