IIT Bombay Student Death: Nationwide candle march today seeking justice for Darshan Solanki

NEW DELHI: After the 18-year-old student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Darshan Solanki, allegedly dying by suicide on February 12, the students of the institute have called for a nationwide candle march seeking justice for him today, February 20. Expressing full support for the nationwide candle march, the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) appealed to the student community across the country to participate in this call. The candle march is slated to be held between 7 pm and 9 pm.

APPSC in a social media post said: “Let Us Be United to Ensure Justice for Darshan. We fully support the call for a nation wide candle march on 19th February given by Darshan’s family to ensure justice is made in this case.”

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The study circle further added: “We appeal to the student community everywhere in the country to participate in this call by conducting candle marches on their respective campuses. Let us all have an open dialogue about discrimination on campuses. Let us all make our campuses more inclusive and democratic. Let us be united to ensure justice for Darshan.”

Let Us Be United to Ensure Justice for Darshan
We fully support the call for a nation wide candle march on 19th February given by Darshan’s family to ensure justice is made in this case. We appeal to the student community everywhere in the country to participate in this call pic.twitter.com/xcEY20Xt7B

— APPSC IIT Bombay (@AppscIITb) February 18, 2023

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The APPSC termed the death of the IIT Bombay BTech student an "institutional murder" and demanded the institute investigate the death of the BTech student and a report in the public domain.

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The institute has formed a panel to conduct a “parallel” probe into the death of a first-year BTech student amid allegations of caste bias and has urged its students to come forward if they have “relevant” information.