IIT-Bombay, Powai main gate.
| Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini
Barely two weeks after the death of 18-year-old Dalit student of IIT-Bombay, Darshan Solanki, the internal committee set up to probe the incident is looking to wrap up depositions from students on campus, even as a large section of students has expressed a total lack of confidence that the committee will point out and address what they called “systemic” issues of caste discrimination.
The committee, consisting of 12 members, and headed by Professor Nand Kishore, former Chief Vigilance Officer of IIT-B, was formed the day after Solanki’s death. Soon, it began deposing students who knew Solanki and some faculty on campus too.
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The committee has not been recording the transcripts of the depositions that highlighted instances of caste discrimination on campus, there are no minutes of the meeting being taken down, and depositions are being conducted in various parts of the Powai-based campus, multiple students who deposed before the committee told Today News 24.
“We do not know how serious the committee is about investigating the incident. They have not told us what the terms of reference for the committee are. When I deposed, all members were not present. My deposition went on for about 45 minutes, and I saw no one transcribing the deposition or recording the session. Some were taking notes at intervals but we do not know what parts of our statements have been taken on record and which have not,” one student who deposed in the last week said.
The institute is yet to respond to questions from Today News 24 on the workings of the committee.
On the invitation of the committee, the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) and the Ambedkar Study Circle (ASC), two student outfits, also submitted their statements to members, along with detailed documentation of casteist experiences students have faced on campus.
According to an internal communication seen by Today News 24, the committee has requested the Director to give an open call to the campus community, asking that anyone who feels they must present their deposition before the committee should reach out by 5 p.m. on February 25, so that the committee can proceed to prepare its report. The Director then forwarded this communication to the campus community in an email.
NCSC notice
Meanwhile, IIT-Bombay, the Maharashtra police, the Mumbai police, and the State government are yet to respond to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes’ (NCSC) notice on Solanki’s death.
Two days after the B.Tech student allegedly died by suicide, the NCSC had on February 14 issued a notice to authorities in Maharashtra, and the IIT-B administration, seeking that detailed reports be filed before it in connection with Solanki’s death and the circumstances surrounding it.
Not having received the required reports, the commission, on February 16, sent the first reminder to the authorities, following which a second reminder was sent on Friday (February 24). No report has yet been filed before the commission, sources said.
In the initial notice, the commission had said that if the reports are not submitted as sought, it may invoke its powers as a civil court to issue summonses to the officials concerned.
