Student Dies In IIT Bombay. Suicide, Caste Discrimination Alleged

Mumbai:

An 18-year-old student of IIT Bombay died apparently after he jumped from the seventh floor of his hostel building at the institute’s campus in Powai on Sunday afternoon. There was no suicide note and the police have registered a case of accidental death. Investigations, though are on, with a student group alleging that he was driven to suicide due to discrimination against Scheduled Caste students on the campus.

The police said Darshan Solanki, a BTech student, was from Ahmedabad. He had enrolled for the course three months ago and his first semester exams concluded on Saturday. The Powai police are trying to find out if pressure of studies drove the student to take the extreme step.

In a note to students, Institute Director Subhasis Chaudhuri said: “We regret to inform the loss of a first-year student in a tragic incident this afternoon. Powai police is investigating the case. The parents of the student have been informed and they are on their way. We deeply mourn the death of the student and pray that the family gets the strength to bear this loss. May his soul rest in peace.”

The APPSC (Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle) IIT Bombay, tweeted: “We mourn the loss of an 18 year old dalit student, Darshan Solanki, who joined @iitbombay 3 months back for his BTech. We must understand that this is not a personal/individualised issue, but an institutional murder”.

“Despite our complaints the institute did not care to make the space inclusive and safe for dalit bahujan adivasi students. First-year students face the most harassment in terms of anti-reservation sentiments and taunts of non-deserving and non- meritorious. There is a lack of representation of faculty and counsellors from the marginalized,” another tweet read.

In an Instagram post, the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle alleged that it is “no hidden fact that students from the SC/ST community face immense harassment and discrimination on the campus from students, faculties and employees”.

The post also mentioned the “general atmosphere in IIT Bombay campus, where reservations are equated with lack of merit”.

At IIIT RK Valley in Andhra Pradesh, a 22-year-old, Akhila, was found dead in her hostel room on today. The final-year engineering student was the daughter of a labourer working in Kuwait. No suicide note has been found. The police are investigating the trigger for the extreme step.

The institution was set up in 2007 to give opportunity to meritorious rural students who cannot afford expensive coaching institutions to join institutions of excellence.