Report: Darshan Solanki’s Death and the Incidents Following

While we acknowledge the existence of student collectives, we would like to clarify that their statements are not subject to official fact-checking procedures and they are not recognized as official student bodies. We advise readers to exercise caution when considering claims made by external media or student collectives on any aspects of the case and its investigation, as such claims may be unverified. It is advisable to wait for official confirmation before accepting any claims as factual. We urge students to refrain from making any speculations about the cause of Darshan Solanki’s death, since the Police and internal committee investigations are ongoing. An interim report of the internal committee investigating the case has been released. The committee will submit its final report after all necessary information is available.

Disclaimer: The student opinions mentioned in this article do not represent the opinions of the entire student community, nor should they be generalised as such. Readers are advised to exercise caution when drawing conclusions or making assumptions based solely on the views reported in this article.

Trigger Warning: This article contains mentions of death, suicide, and caste discrimination [1] link. Reader discretion is advised.

Timeline of Events

12th February afternoon: On the 12th of February, Darshan Solanki, a first-year undergraduate student from the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) passed away. The news of his demise has deeply affected the IITB community.

Darshan, a student from the SC/ST community, fell from the 7th-floor refuge area of Hostel 16. The incident occurred in the afternoon around 1PM. One of the security guards called the ambulance, and he was immediately rushed to the IITB hospital, where he was declared dead. The body was transferred to the civic-run Rajawadi hospital, where the post-mortem was carried out. No physical suicide note was found. Investigations are currently underway to determine the cause of this tragic incident; an interim report made by the internal investigation committee was released on 6th March.

12th February night: On the same day, a candlelight march occurred around 10 PM. Students gathered in the common area of Hostel 12 and marched to Hostel 16. Upon reaching there, a few of the attendees expressed their thoughts about various issues faced on campus, including academic stress and challenges faced by students from reserved categories, among others.

13th February:
The Director formed an internal committee to investigate this tragic incident.

A condolence meeting in memory of Darshan Solanki was held at 6:30 PM in the LT Lawns. Several students, faculty and representatives from the administration attended the meeting. The meeting was presided over by the Director, Prof. Subhasis Chaudhuri, who addressed the loss and provided his condolences to the family and friends of Darshan Solanki.

The meeting began with two minutes of silence in memory of Darshan Solanki, during which people stepped forward to pay their respects to him. The meeting was formally closed with a request from the Student Mentorship Program Coordinators (SMPCs) to not make conjectures about the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate incident and wait for the official investigation to conclude. They also said that students were welcome to stay back, pay respects and share their thoughts if they wanted.

A few students expressed their thoughts and began to raise concerns including those about the adequacy of support structures on campus for marginalised students. They also demanded that the Director hold an open house on the issues on a non-instructional day so that a maximum number of people could attend and voice their issues.

The Director assured the students that the administration would work towards improving support structures and conduct a meeting with a smaller group of students who wanted to discuss issues. However, these students were unsatisfied with this response and continued demanding an open house. The Director expressed that though the administration was open for discussion, the condolence meeting was not the appropriate time or place since it was held to respect the memory of the student. The Director left the gathering without any further announcements while students continued to make demands.

14th February:
The internal committee began its investigations.

The Public Relations Office of IITB put out a statement, based on the initial inputs from Darshan’s friends at that time, refuting the claims in news articles that the death was caused by discrimination. The statement requested that unfounded allegations are not spread and asked for people to wait for the official investigation to conclude. The statement went on to say that students are warned about discrimination and are sensitised to not seek proxy information about caste via entrance exam ranks from the moment they step into IITB, stating that “While no steps are 100% effective, discrimination by students if at all it occurs, is an exception.”

In the past year, Institute Student Mentors were instructed not to discuss or use JEE ranks as icebreakers with their mentees; however, it is unclear if students from the first year were sensitised against such activities; this message had not been relayed in the SC/ST Students Cell’s freshers orientation.

15th February: Allegations of caste discrimination were made based on statements made to the media by Darshan Solanki’s family and a senior student whom Darshan Solanki had confided in.

No official complaints had been made to the Police or the SC/ST Students Cell of IITB as of 15th February. According to the statements made by the SC/ST Students Cell and Student Wellness Centre to the Mumbai Police, Darshan had not approached either of these two bodies to complain about caste-based discrimination or any other issues during his stay at IITB.

Based on the observations made by the internal committee, the interim conclusion (as of 6th March) of the interim report includes the following statement: “Other than the statement of DS’s [Darshan Solanki] sister, there is no specific evidence of direct caste-based discrimination faced by DS during his stay at IIT Bombay.” Details can be found in the interim report.

17th February | Demands made by student collectives: Some students, primarily from collectives such as APPSC, ASC and Dastak, gathered in the LT Lawns to submit a letter containing a list of their demands to the Director. It should be noted that the views and opinions of these student collectives are not representative of the entire student community.
The letter, which was signed by the three aforementioned collectives, listed various demands broadly aimed at:

• Improving the representation of and support for SC/ST students
• Pushing for an internal investigation committee with 50% representation from the SC/ST community and one external member to investigate the case
• Sensitising students, faculty and staff on caste and mental health, and
• Conducting an open house to discuss structural issues

The complete list of demands is linked below.Link
Demands by other students, not mentioned in the letter, included the creation of a common complaint platform for all types of discrimination and bullying, the arrangement of additional TAs for PwD students, and prompt academic support to be given to students with an FR.

An email was sent by the Director requesting the campus community to provide any information which they believe may be relevant to the incident by meeting any of the committee members, or emailing the convener, Prof. Nand Kishore, or the police.

19th February: In response to the nationwide call for a march, a second candle march was organised on campus in memory of Darshan, starting from Hostel 12, with sporadic calls and slogans for justice. The march then settled in the basement of the main building, where a few students expressed their views on the structures and administration on campus. They reiterated some demands which they had also presented to the administration. They also urged the people to depose to the internal investigation committee and to join their call for justice and action.

2nd March: The interim report of the internal committee was submitted. A summary of the report and its full version was released by the Director on 6th March.

Steps taken by the administration and SC/ST Students Cell

The following are the immediate steps taken by the administration:

• An internal investigation committee was constituted on 13th Feb; it is headed by Prof. Nand Kishore, who until recently was the Chief Vigilance Officer, and includes SC/ST Student Cell members, including both faculty and students, the In-charge Chief Medical Officer of the IITB hospital, wardens from Hostel 16, Associate Dean of Academic Programmes, one of the overall coordinators of the Student Mentorship Programme and the General Secretary of Hostel Affairs. 5 out of 12 committee members are from the SC/ST community. Anyone with relevant information regarding the case is requested to reach out to them.
• Ms Anisha Mathews has been appointed as the new SWC In-charge. Furthermore, job postings for 1 SC and 1 ST counsellor to be part of the Student Wellness Centre were announced on 17th February 2023. The application end date is 19th March 2023. The administration stated that this had already been planned as per suggestions from the Ministry of Education after the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes took cognisance of the lack of mental health support for SC/ST students in early February 2023
• The refuge areas have been locked until bird netting is added. This is to avoid any cases of students falling from the area by accident. Barriers will also be put up on the edges of various terraces.
• The administration has expressed concerns about moderating the discussion and maintaining decorum in an open house, but have stated that they look forward to student participation and suggestions to improve its support systems.
• In his mail to the institute, the Director mentioned that a committee has been formed to examine the issues of academic stress among first year UG students and recommend measures to mitigate the same under the convenership of Prof. Kishore Chatterjee, the head of the EE Department.
• The administration also stated that they are working on changes in the UG curriculum, which was implemented starting with the batch of 2022, intending to make it more motivating and relevant to students and reduce academic stress. The DD AIA also stated that the administration is planning on implementing changes in the grading pattern, among other steps, to reduce stress, especially in the first year.

In light of concerns raised about caste discrimination on campus, Insight inquired about steps taken by the administration and the SC/ST Students Cell in the last year aimed at supporting SC/ST students and making the campus more sensitised:

• A sensitisation course on “Caste in the Workspace” has been in preparation since June 2022 and will be entering the video production stage. This is being overseen by the SC/ST Students Cell with guidance from academic experts from the HSS Department and will be mandatory for students, faculty and staff. The DD AIA stated that the goal is to complete the course before the start of the upcoming academic year, Autumn 2023.
• The Cell also established a voluntary mentorship program in May 2022 and allows students to choose mentors based on department and language. A training program was carried out for the mentors by the Mariwala Health Initiative, following an internal orientation conducted by the Cell itself.
• A mandate for the SC/ST Students Cell detailing its objectives and functioning, the roles of its members, and the procedure for complaint redressal was drafted and is under discussion in the Core Committee of the SC/ST Students Cell.
• A list of caste slurs is being expanded. It has already been completed for a few languages and is available on the website of SC/ST Students Cell.
• The Cell will continue to put up anti-caste discrimination posters around the institute.

The incident has highlighted the issue of mental health and well-being among students, especially in high-pressure environments such as IITs and amongst students from marginalised communities. The IITB administration has acknowledged the need to prioritise mental health initiatives and support systems to ensure the well-being of all its students.

Darshan’s loss is tragic and heart-wrenching, and the IITB community stands in solidarity with his family and friends during this difficult time. It is crucial for everyone to come together and support each other during times of crisis.

Our thoughts and deepest condolences go out to all those affected by this tragedy, and we hope that Darshan’s soul may rest in peace.[1] Note:

• We would like to remind the student community that making anti-reservation statements or casteist comments amounts to caste discrimination—a crime and a punishable offence. We request that the student community be mindful of the sentiments of the SC/ST community, who are a rightful and integral part of IITB. Caste-based discrimination is a very serious problem, the brunt of which falls upon the SC/ST community.
• Any student experiencing caste-based discrimination, including but not limited to: anti-reservation statements (being told that they are unmeritorious and undeserving of being in IITB), caste slurs and abuses, being asked to reveal their caste identity through direct and indirect ways (such as asking surnames explicitly, JEE rank, family/ancestral occupation, etc.) and facing isolation and alienation based on their caste, is encouraged by the Institute and the SC/ST Students Cell to approach the SC/ST Students Cell for complaints and support.

[2] The full list of demands presented can be found here.