In a 58-second public appeal video, Ramesh Solanki, father of the first-year B Tech Dalit student at IIT Bombay, who died by suicide on 12 February, asked people to participate in a candle march on 19 February so that “Darshan gets justice.”
“Did Darshan die by suicide because of caste discrimination, or was he killed,” he asked.
Gujarat MLA shared the appeal, and Dalit activist Jignesh Mewani from his official Twitter handle on 17 February.
“When he visited us during Makar Sankranti, he had complained to his aunt that the other students were harassing him, taunting him that ‘because you are a Dalit, you got an opportunity to study free of cost’,” Ramesh Solanki said.
Darshan’s family had expressed suspicions of foul play behind Darshan’s death.
The police had earlier recorded the family’s initial statements and are now questioning other students and hostelites on various aspects, including allegations of caste discrimination.
Mevani, on Thursday demanded an investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the death of Darshan. He told the media in Ahmedabad that the tragic incident involved a Dalit student who got into IIT Bombay after clearing the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) with flying colours.
The Maharashtra government should set up an SIT to probe the incident because the family suspects foul play, Mevani said. He also demanded that the government pay Rs 50 lakh compensation to the deceased student’s family.
Darshan Solanki, a BTech student from Ahmedabad, 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.
“We mourn the loss of an 18 year old dalit student, Darshan Solanki, who joined IIT Bombay 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,” tweeted Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle, IIT Bombay.
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