IIT Bombay: Police, SIT refuse to file FIR on Darshan Solanki’s alleged suicide, says APPSC

NEW DELHI: The Mumbai Police refused to file an FIR on IIT Bombay BTech student Darshan Solanki’s alleged suicide. The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) who met the parents of the students said that an FIR was not filed as the case is under investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set by the state government, the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) said.

On March 16, parents of the student along with activists and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay students approached the Powai Police station at Ram Baug to file a report on the “suicide” of the 18-year-old.

“Despite arguments by the lawyers saying that there is a Supreme Court ruling stating that police stations can file FIR regardless of SIT, the DCP refused the same and disagreed even to give acknowledgment receipts of the complaint,” the APPSC said in a statement.

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Meanwhile, the IIT Bombay students and activists stood outside the police station from 12 PM to 4 PM offering support to Darshan Solanki’s family.

Subsequently, the parents and lawyers reached the SIT office in Marol. The officials initially denied entry to the lawyers and also refused to accept the complaint to file FIR, it said.

On February 12, the first year engineering student jumped off the seventh floor of a hostel building and died. There were reports on alleged caste discrimination faced by the student which led to the extreme step. However, the IITB has been denying the claims made by the student groups.

Two days back, IIT Bombay in a statement said that it will continue to take steps to prevent any form of discrimination and asked everyone to "wait for the SIT report and avoid unnecessary speculation".