Caste-based discrimination has been ruled out by an inquiry committee set up by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay to probe the alleged death by suicide of student Darshan Solanki.
The committee was set up after the family of the 18-year-old Dalit student alleged that he had been facing harassment and discrimination from students and professors at the institute. However, the inquiry committee, in its nine-page report said that the student's death was a "tragic case of suicide", and hinted that Solanki's "deteriorating" academic performance might have affected him "seriously".
"No specific evidence"
Addressing claims of caste-based harassment, the report states that the committee interviewed Solanki's professors, wingmates, teachers, TAs, mentors and friends, and none of the interviewed people mentioned "any kind of discrimination (including caste-based)" reported by Solanki or any of his friends. In fact, the report states that apart from the statement by Solanki's sister, there was no "specific evidence" of "direct" caste-based discrimination. The committee also reported that Solanki did not contact the SC/ST Cell to complain about any caste-based harassment. Additionally, the report says that no instance of caste-based discrimination was found in Solanki's email conversations within the institute.
Case threw light on discrimination in IITs
A first-year BTech (Chemical) course student, Solanki hailed from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He allegedly died by suicide on February 12 in his hostel on the IIT Bombay campus in Powai. The 12-member committee was set up by IIT Bombay to look into the incident after his family claimed that caste-based discrimination drove Solanki to death by suicide. Professor Nand Kishore, head of the chemistry department chaired the committee. Student groups and activists around the country condemned Solanki's death by suicide and highlighted the prevalence of caste-based discrimination in IITs across India. Late last month, the police had said the Maharashtra government had formed a special investigation team to conduct a probe into Solanki's death.