IIT-Bombay Dalit student death | Complaint of Darshan Solanki’s father sent to SIT probing case

MUMBAI, 19/02/2023: (Ground Zero) Students from different organisations protest against the death of IIT student Darshan Solanki outside IIT Bombay, Powai on Monday. Photo: EMMANUAL YOGINI
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI

Rameshbhai Solanki, the father of 18-year-old Darshan Solanki, who allegedly died by suicide inside IIT-B, on Thursday told Today News 24 that he submitted a complaint to the Powai Police, alleging foul play in his son’s death. In the complaint, Mr. Solanki said that his son “suffered constant caste-based discrimination in the IIT Bombay campus, which the institute enabled to persist”. 

Mr. Solanki had arrived in Mumbai from Ahmedabad, to submit the complaint on Thursday. “The police told me that they cannot register an FIR because the SIT was already investigating the case. They told me they will send a copy of the complaint to the SIT,” he said.

Confirming this, a senior Mumbai Police officer said that the police have forwarded a copy of the complaint to the SIT for further proceedings. The Powai Police on Thursday sent a letter to the SIT asking that appropriate action be taken on the complaint.

Father alleges caste-based discrimination

In the complaint, Mr. Solanki said, “I believe that my son’s death under suspicious circumstances is a murder committed at the hands of those individuals in the institute harassing and discriminating him on the basis of caste, and not a simple case of suicide.”

The complaint said that the Powai Police had proceeded to register an Accidental Death Report (ADR) in the matter “inspite of our repeated requests to register a complaint for murder in the matter”.

It added that the family had not been provided copies of the ADR, the post-mortem or any other documents related to the case, including clone copies of his seized devices, despite repeated representations to the police. 

Mr. Solanki said in his complaint that the Powai Police had recorded his statement in addition to those of his wife, daughter, and other family members who mentioned caste-discrimination faced by the first-year Chemical Engineering student in IIT-Bombay. Despite this, the complaint alleged that the Powai police did not record statements of other family members who could speak to the 18-year-old’s experiences on campus. 

The complaint added, “Hence, the police has deliberately neglected recording these statements that could count as evidence of caste discrimination Darshan faced on campus.”

Questions IIT- Bombay’s internal panel

Mr. Solanki also raised questions about the institute’s internal panel, which ruled out caste-based discrimination, despite recording statements of senior students and his sister alleging the same. The complaint said that the institute had already ruled out caste discrimination on February 14, even before the investigation of the committee began, pointing out that this amounted to “an attempt to cover up the crime and also influence the students/witnesses through the process”. 

Insisting that “there is no shred of doubt” about the caste discrimination faced by Darshan at IIT-B and that his death was “direct result” of this, Mr. Solanki sought that the case be investigated as a murder. The complaint sought that an FIR be registered under sections 302 and/or 306 of the Indian Penal Code, along with relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and the Maharashtra Prohibition of Ragging Act. 

(Those in distress or having suicidal tendencies could seek help and counselling by calling any of the numbers mentioned in this link: helpline numbers)