IIT Bombay student dies by suicide on campus, group alleges ‘caste discrimination'

A student group alleged that he was driven to take the extreme step due to discrimination against Scheduled Caste students on the campus.

Mumbai, Feb 13: An 18-year-old student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, located in the Powai area, allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building located on the campus on Sunday.

A day later, a student group alleged that he was driven to take the extreme step due to discrimination against Scheduled Caste students on the campus.

The APPSC (Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle) IIT Bombay alleged that "this is not a personal/individualised issue, but an institutional murder".

"We mourn the loss of an 18 year old dalit student, Darshan Solanki, who joined @iitbombay 3 months back for his BTech. We must understand that this is not a personal/individualised issue, but an institutional murder," it tweeted.

"Despite our complaints the institute did not care to make the space inclusive and safe for dalit bahujan adivasi students. First-year students face the most harassment in terms of anti-reservation sentiments and taunts of non-deserving and non- meritorious. There is a lack of representation of faculty and counsellors from the marginalized," it added.

The post also mentioned the "general atmosphere in IIT Bombay campus, where reservations are equated with lack of merit".

The deceased, who hailed from Ahmedabad, was a first-year student of the B.Tech (Chemical) course.

The incident came to light after security guards on the campus spotted the youth lying in a pool of blood, a police official said.

He said the deceased had not left any suicide note and prima facie he jumped from the refuge areas of the hostel building.

"Based on the primary information, we have registered a case of accidental death. Further investigation is underway," said senior police inspector Budhan Sawant.