Congress MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani on Thursday, February 16, called for an investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the death of an IIT Bombay student, who allegedly committed suicide on Sunday, February 12. Mevani claimed that the Dalit community suspects it to be a case of murder, caste discrimination or ragging and announced a candle march on February 19 in support of the deceased student.
Mevani said that after talking to the Ahmedabad-based family members of Darshan Solanki, the Dalit community suspects that he was killed, discriminated against or ragged because of his caste. Solanki, a first-year BTech (chemical) student, reportedly took his own life on Sunday, February 12 by leaping from the seventh floor of an IIT hostel building.
The Congress leader from Gujarat announced that the Dalit community would hold a candle march on February 19 throughout the country to show solidarity with Solanki.
A team of Mumbai Police visited the deceased's house on Thursday, February 16, to record the statements of his family members in connection with his death. Mevani said, "Darshan's father Ramesh Solanki told me that he was not even allowed to see the face of his dead son when he went there to collect the body. The institute told him different things over the phone, and the IIT Bombay professors told different stories. The entire issue appears suspicious." He then added that the officials were not ready to hand over the papers regarding the death case registered at the police station to the father of the student and The dean and other IIT officials, according to him, did not interact with him in the sensitive manner that was necessary stated a PTI report.
"Since the incident is suspicious, the student's family members and the Dalit community believe this could be the case of murder, caste-based discrimination and ragging," Mevani said. He added that government should form a "non-corrupt police officers with integrity" SIT to conduct a probe into the case to find the truth. He has also appealed to the Prime Minister of the country Narendra Modi to intervene in the matter and meet the deceased's family and order the kind of information demanded by the family stated in a report by PTI.
"Probably, Darshan was a victim of the similar form of discrimination experienced by Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi due to which he committed suicide at the IIT Bombay," Mevani claimed. Vemula, a research scholar at the University of Hyderabad, allegedly hanged himself in a hostel room in 2016. Tadvi, a second-year gynaecology student of TN Topiwala National Medical College in Mumbai, reportedly committed suicide in her hostel room in 2019.
