Mumbai: Disagreeing with the interim reports filed by IIT Bombay's investigative committee, Darshan Solanki’s family refuses to believe that their son died by suicide due to academic pressures. On February 12, Darshan, an 18-year-old Dalit student allegedly jumped to death from the seventh floor of IIT Bombay’s hostel building. Following the incident, an investigative committee formed by the IIT filed an interim report on Monday, March 6, explaining the findings of their probe into Darshan’s unfortunate death.
The report dismissed all claims of casteism made by various student groups and Darshan’s family while stating that ‘the despair of deteriorating academic performance appears to be a very strong reason which might have affected Darshan Solanki very seriously.’
Darshan's father expresses doubts over report
Having a hard time believing the contents of the report, Darshan’s father Ramesh Solanki thinks that his son could not have died by suicide. “We can’t trust the institute’s investigation since all of it was done behind closed doors. When we saw Darshan’s body after his demise we realised that he had only suffered injuries in one part of the head. How can someone who has allegedly jumped from the seventh floor of a building show such limited and specific injuries? I still think this is a murder that is being covered up,” he said.
As per the official post-mortem report the cause of Darshan’s death was a severe head injury, say police sources. The events that led to the injury are yet to be probed by a Special Investigation Team(SIT) formed under Mumbai’s Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Lakhmi Gautam.
What did IIT-B conclude with its findings?
So far, the Mumbai police have claimed the student's death to be a ‘suicide’ based on the accounts shared by an unnamed eyewitness who was standing by a hostel-room window and saw Darshan approach the terrace, sit down on the edge, and eventually jump. The 12-member investigative committee headed by Prof Nand Kishore, IIT’s former Chief Vigilance Officer, has dismissed the possibility of a homicide on the same basis as well.
The institute-led panel interviewed 79 people including Darshan’s parents and his younger sister. The report went on to reveal that Darshan had barely passed one of his papers while he failed another subject suggesting it to be the cause behind the student’s death. The panel’s interviews with Darshan’s friends claim that he would skip classes and would often prefer to be in his hostel room. Conversations with Teaching Assistants(TAs) revealed that Darshan remained absent through many tutorials and some of his assignments were not turned in. He reportedly even asked for Hindi help sessions for a Mathematics course.
In an interview, one of his friends claimed that Darshan faced problems in understanding the lectures and often expressed that he might quit the B. Tech. programme at IIT Bombay to join one elsewhere in his hometown stated the report.
Academics could not have driven son to suicide
In disbelief of these findings, Ramesh Solanki thinks that academic reasons could not have possibly driven their son to take his own life. “I remember that Darshan used to get angry with me if I called him too often amidst his classes. We even scheduled a time in the evenings so we could chat with each other without disturbing his busy IIT routine. We made it abundantly clear that he could always come back to us if he didn’t find IIT Bombay pleasant,” said Ramesh. The Solankis claim that they would often ask Darshan to return if he wished to do so. According to his father, Darshan was assured that applying to other colleges, including other IITs, was always an option.
Apart from his academics, the panel also probed into romantic relations and substance abuse as possible causes behind Darshan’s death. Caste discrimination was yet another angle that was investigated and dismissed by the IIT, much to the dismay of student groups. Finding the interim report vague, these groups plan to ask for more details on the report said a member of the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), one such group alleging the possibility of caste discrimination in Darshan’s case. “The investigation panel could have interviewed the very students who were discriminating against Darshan, to begin with. It is obvious that they would claim negligence. The panel has also been very quick to dismiss the statement given by Darshan’s sister, where he confided in her about being discriminated against,” she said.
Darshan's younger sister, Jahnvi Solanki remembers Darshan speaking highly of his batchmates and seniors. Eventually, when they found out that he belongs to their Dalit community, their attitude towards Darshan began changing she said while talking to The Free Press Journal. While she maintains that caste discrimination was a reality at IIT-B, she also believes that it could not have driven Darshan to take his own life. "When he spoke to me about the bias, he also asserted that he was studying at IIT with a clear aim in his mind and that such behaviour would not stop him from having a bright future. My entire family and I still believe that this is a case of foul play and not suicide," said Jahnvi Solanki.
According to the panel report, Darshan was last seen getting dressed as he planned to visit a local market with his friends. Students did not notice when Darshan left the wing and simply assumed that he had gone to have lunch, said the report. Though the interim report claims that the 'tragic incident was a case of suicide’, The IIT committee is still to turn in the final analysis as Darshan’s call details, forensic analysis of the phone/laptop, and police post-mortem report are awaited.
