Devendra Fadnavis, the Maharashtra home minister, has been asked by at least two IIT Bombay student collectives to instruct the police to file a FIR in the February death of first-year student Darshan Solanki. Solanki is suspected to have committed himself.
A special investigation team (SIT) led by a senior police officer has already been established by the state government to look into the tragedy.
The student organisations claimed the SIT probe is based on the Accidental Death Report (ADR) submitted by the police and that “the SIT’s unwillingness to base their investigation on FIR is a failing to acknowledge the rights of the family” in an email-cum-letter to Fadnavis on Tuesday.
The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), the Ambedkarite Students Collective (ASC), and a concerned IIT Bombay alumni group have issued this letter. Also, the APPSC posted a picture of Solanki along with the message that he would have been 19 on Tuesday.
On February 12, Solanki, a first-year B Tech (Chemical) student from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, reportedly committed himself by leaping from the seventh storey of a dormitory building on campus.
His relatives suspected foul play in his death and said he was subjected to prejudice at the IITB because he belonged to a Scheduled Caste group.
Nevertheless, the IITB’s investigating committee has ruled out caste-based discrimination and said that declining academic performance may have contributed to the suicide.
If the institution had adopted all the legal requirements, such as faculty reservation, mental health care, savarna sentencing, a competent grievance redressing procedure, etc., Darshan would have turned 19 today. IIT Bombay has let you down. The APPSC tweeted, “#justicefordarshansolanki.
In their letter, the student organisations claimed that on March 16, Solanki’s parents travelled to Mumbai to file a FIR (First Information Report), but despite their repeated requests and those of their accompanying attorneys, senior Mumbai Police officers, the SIT, and the local Powai police station refused to do so.
They said that the Accidental Death Report (ADR) that the police submitted provides the foundation for the SIT’s inquiry up to this point.
“The SIT’s unwillingness to use the FIR as the basis for its inquiry amounts to a disregard for the family’s legal entitlement to file a complaint over a cognizable offence.
In their interim report, IIT Bombay blamed Darshan’s performance while dismissing any probable horrors he may have faced. “We worry this aspect of the inquiry will restate that finding,” the letter said.
Help is available if you’re thinking about or feeling suicidal call 9152987821.
