Twenty days after the death of 18-year-old Dalit student Darshan Solanki (DS) inside the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, the administration’s internal investigation has ruled out caste-based discrimination, and concluded that it appeared to be a “tragic” case of suicide, in an interim report submitted to authorities on March 2.
The 12-member committee, headed by Professor Nand Kishore, noted that his grades had deteriorated in the second half of the Autumn semester and that “the despair of deteriorating academic performance appears to be a very strong reason which might have affected DS very seriously”.
Sharing the interim report with the campus, IIT-B Director Subhasis Chaudhuri said, “We have formed a committee to examine the issues of academic stress among first year UG students and recommend measures to mitigate the same under the convenorship of Prof. Kishore Chatterjee, EE Dept.”
The internal committee recorded that Solanki’s academic performance was not good in the first half of the Autumn semester but he showed “academic interest and enthusiasm”. However, grades dropped further in the second half of the semester. His friends told committee members that he used to stay in his hostel room most of the time, skip classes and sleep a lot, adding that he had often complained about not being able to understand lectures.
Language barrier
The committee concluded that he might have felt aloof because of “JEE Rank differences, computer familiarity, and language barrier” but also said it does not know the “exact cause” for this. The committee found that he had also approached one of his teaching assistants (TAs) for Hindi help sessions in a Mathematics course.
Further, Solanki’s sister told committee members that he would often complain about being laughed at for asking questions about computers or other subjects. She submitted that he had also spoken of issues faced by other SC/ST students that he too was facing. The committee also recorded that one of Solanki’s friends, an SC/ST student, said he was “sensitive about his caste identity”.
In addition, informal student bodies like the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) and others also deposed before the panel, and presented a slew of issues related to regular caste-based discrimination on campus.
However, the institute said, “None of those interviewed/interacted persons, including friends, wing-mates, teachers, TAs, mentors of DS and staff of the Hostel-16, mentioned about any kind of discrimination [including caste-based], either reported by DS himself or by any of his friends.” The panel added that three SC/ST students it spoke to said they had not faced caste discrimination on campus.
The institute said that none of the above-mentioned student body members had personally met Solanki, or “directly knew” of problems faced by him. The committee said that neither his sister nor his father or uncle could point to any “specific incident” of discrimination. It added that neither did he contact the SC/ST Cell, nor the mentors about any caste discrimination.
‘No specific evidence’
The institute said, “Therefore, other than the statement of DS’s sister, there is no specific evidence of direct caste-based discrimination faced by DS during his stay at IIT Bombay.”
The internal committee took depositions of 79 people on campus, including three of Solanki’s family members over a period of two weeks, before preparing its interim report. Those interviewed included his hostel wing-mates, his roommate, other residents, staffers of Hostel-16, where he lived, teaching assistants, course instructors, mess staffers, security officials, and doctors.
Of the 12 committee members, three were faculty part of the SC/ST students cell (convener, co-convener, and member), and two were student representatives of the cell. The others included faculty and students part of the hostel administration, the Dean of Academic Programmes, the Chief Medical Officer, and the overall coordinator of the general student mentor programme. Prof. Kishore, the convener of the committee, is the Institute Chair Professor at the Chemistry Department of IIT-B.
As for the day of Solanki’s death, the committee noted that he was planning to go outside the campus with hostel wing-mates on February 12 after lunch. He had spoken to his father twice that afternoon, but soon after he allegedly died by suicide. “The committee has no information on what happened in the time span after the telephonic calls with the family and before the tragic incident,” the committee said, adding that it would submit a final report after examining call details, forensic analysis of the phone/laptop, and post-mortem report, which have been sought from the police.
Those who require assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts may contact Sanjivini, Society for Mental Health suicide prevention helpline 011-4076 9002 (10 a.m. to 7.30 p.m., Monday-Saturday).
