The death of Darshan Solanki, a first-year BTech (Chemical engineering) student at IIT Bombay brought everyone’s attention to the ethos of casteism ingrained within the minds of young students. Darshan’s death was nothing less than a matter of shame that comes with being a Dalit in an Indian community. The extreme desensitisation about these matters in such colleges that boasts of housing brilliant students falls short of awe when cases as such take place.
In a recent press release by the Mumbai Press Club on May 11, Thursday addressed by the former Member of Parliament Dr Bhalchandra Mungekar, Father of Darshan Solanki, Ramesh Solanki and his sister Janvi Solanki. They allege that instead of an FIR (First Information Report), an ADR (Accident Death Report) was filed, despite there was evidence of caste discrimination against the deceased. Later on with Dr. Mungekar's demand, a special investigation team (SIT) was formed.
Bullying led to Shame
Janvi, Darshan’s sister states that in the second week of April while scouring through Darshan’s social media accounts, she stumbled upon a chat with an account named “Sam Rajput” on Instagram. A few days before his demise, they had an exchange where the person had inquired about Darshan’s rank.
Later in the conversation, Darshan said that now that Sam knew about his rank and his category he might probably not like him anymore. This subtly directs towards the culture that makes one feel apprehensive about the fact that their peers might ostracise them and whose victim was Darshan Solanki.
The testimonies already given by another student at IIT-B, his sister and his aunt assert that Darshan was a victim of caste discrimination. With wanting to change his room due to harassment and his peers mocked him for asking questions in the classroom, the cases had already started building up within a few months in the “esteemed” institution.
Darshan’s sister said that he had confided in her and that they had reduced their interaction with him when they learned that he is from a Dalit community. Apparently, they would pass derogatory remarks such as “Dalit aaya…dalit aaya…” when he would try socialising with them during group studies or during meals. The constant exposure to bullying and teasing led to him becoming extremely sensitive towards the situation.
SIT, incapable?
In the press conference, Darshan’s family and Dr. Mungekar expressed their suspicion of the way SIT is handling the matter and despite there being ample evidence, the team is not probing into the names of students who had abetted his suicide.
They allege that SIT continues to sideline the caste-based discrimination incidents. The latest media reports that suggest SIT’s ruling out of caste-based discrimination faced by Darshan is highly appalling as Darshan was a victim of a system and not just one person (as mentioned in the handwritten note that Darshan’s family think it to be contradictory.
The families have also not been provided with Darshan’s electronic gadgets and other items of belonging for them to scrutinise. This might again become an event that would be foretold later on a mere case of suicide and not death by caste discrimination.
The deceased's family has written complaint letters to the Chief Minister, Home Minister, Commissioner of Police and also the National Commission for Scheduled Castes to report the continual dismissal of casteism in this ongoing investigation and their immediate intervention so that this crucial evidence is not lost.
Darshan Solanki died on February 12, 2023.