Mumbai: The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) and students of IIT Bombay have demanded justice and sought an inquiry into the death of an 18-year-old student of IIT Bombay, who allegedly died by suicide due to caste discrimination. The B Tech student, Darshan Solanki, died reportedly after jumping from the seventh floor of his hostel on Sunday. Though no suicide note was recovered by the police, students have alleged that he died by suicide due to discrimination. Students took out a candle march in protest.
In an email to the administration, the students wrote that meritorious students getting admission under the reservation quota suffer from discrimination at the IITs. Students get frustrated due to such a treatment, they wrote. Also, the APPSC has submitted a memorandum to the IT Mumbai SC/ ST cell. They alleged that the institute failed to make the campus safe for the Dalit and Adivasi students. Three months ago, the APPSC had written to the Education Ministry stating that the students from SC and ST communities should get financial, psychological, and medical help.
Students alleged that two Dalit students of the institute died by suicide in the last four years due to discrimination. Darshan was subjected to similar discrimination that finally drove him to end his life, a student alleged. "Darshan was very studious but was continually discriminated against for being a Dalit. He had complained about this to his classmates," he said. Darshan joined IIT Bombay three months ago and his semester exams concluded on Saturday. His father lived in Gujarat but has shifted to Mumbai. Police registered a case of accidental death.
