IIT-B student died by suicide, no caste bias: Interim Inquiry Report

Mumbai: The interim report of IIT-Bombay, inquiring into the death of Dalit student Darshan Solanki, states that his academic performance in various courses deteriorated in the second half of the autumn semester and ruled out the possibility of substance abuse, caste bias, accident or homicide.

“His perceived poor academic performance must have seriously affected him,” states the report. “After exploring various possible factors, it appears that the tragic incident was a case of suicide.”

Meanwhile, Darshan’s father, Ramesh Solanki, told HT, “This report was expected as the institute investigated this matter with prejudice in mind. All committee members are internal, There are no independent committee members. We are not happy with this report as myself and my brother told the committee members about Darshan facing caste discrimination, but they are not reported at this point.”

He also questioned how the committee can say this is a suicide without considering the postmortem report. “As of now, we have also not received any postmortem report,” added Ramesh.

On February 12, it came to light that Darshan Solanki – a chemical engineering student at IIT-Bombay – had died, with speculation rife that the case is of suicide. It has since been alleged from various quarters that Darshan was pushed to take his own life due to harassment he may have faced on account of his caste.

To investigate, a 12-member Interim Inquiry Committee was appointed by IIT-Bombay under the chairmanship of professor Nand Kishore, department of chemistry, IIT-B, on February 13. The committee comprises faculty, student representatives, and staff from IIT-B. The report – which was to investigate the possibilities of academic pressure, personal relationships at IIT-B, caste-based discrimination, substance abuse, and chances of an accident or homicide – was submitted on Monday.

On February 12, the committee started its investigation where it interacted with around 79 persons, including eleven wing-mates, seven teaching assistants, nine teachers, two mentors, eleven family friends, thirteen security personnel, and others.

According to the report, on February 12, Darshan prepared to go shopping with his hostel wing-mates, for which his father had transferred some money to his bank account. “After phone calls with the family and before the incident of suicide, it is not known what exactly happened that he took such an unfortunate extreme step,” states the interim report.

“Other than the statement of Darshan’s sister, there is no specific evidence of direct caste-based discrimination faced by Darshan during his stay in the IIT-B,” the report adds. “In the absence of call details, forensic analysis of Solanki’s phone and laptop, and a post-mortem report of his body, the committee could not arrive at a definitive conclusion about his motivations.”

On February 15, the deceased’s sister – Jhanvi Solanki – had alleged that the “institute is trying to protect its reputation by calling it a suicide”. “My brother was murdered. All his life, he strongly condemned suicide. He would casually tell me how the upper caste students looked down upon fellow students belonging to the lower caste,” she added.