This is an archive article published on February 17, 2023
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IIT-Bombay student’s death: No other Darshan should face caste discrimination, says family, demands SIT probe
“Stand by me to demand an SIT to probe Darshan’s death... so that no other Darshan is subjected to this kind of caste discrimination,” the grieving father urged.
Darshan Solanki (right) with his parents and sister. (File)
Rameshbhai Solanki stood with folded hands before the garlanded photo of his son Darshan, 18, at a prayer meet (Besna) held in front of their house at the municipal quarters in Maninagar area of Ahmedabad, appealing for support to seek justice for his son who allegedly died by suicide on February 12 at the hostel in IIT-Bombay.
“Stand by me to demand an SIT to probe Darshan’s death… so that no other Darshan is subjected to this kind of caste discrimination,” the grieving father urged the people present there.
Rameshbhai, a member of the SC community and a plumber by profession, requested the gathering to join a candle light march to be held in his son’s memory on February 19 and also appealed that it be held across the country.
Attending the prayer meet, Gujarat Congress working president and MLA Jignesh Mevani also demanded an SIT probe along with Rs 25 lakh compensation for the family. “If the government of Maharashtra, state police and the IIT has nothing to hide, then they must form an SIT as per the demand of the victim’s family… What happened with Rohit Vemula, Payal Tadvi and Darshan Solanki must not happen with anyone else,” Mevani said.
BJP MLA from Maninagar Amul Bhatt also met the family and assured them of “necessary action”.
Raising questions over the manner in which the IIT-B and the Maharashtra police dealt with the incident, Rameshbhai told The Indian Express, “We were told over phone by IIT-Bombay authorities that he met with an accident and asked us to reach immediately. Then we were told that he fell from the stairs. Only after postmortem, we were told that he died by suicide. We were not even allowed to see our son’s face. Nor were we allowed to see his room.”
Alleging that postmortem was conducted without their permission, Rameshbhai’s cousin Ajitbhai Solanki said, “We were not asked if we want to go for panel postmortem. We don’t even know whether it was recorded.”
Expressing concern over a “note” found on Darshan’s bed, Rameshbhai said, “We were only shown pictures of his room by police. In one of the pictures, there was a note on his bed. They told us that it was a note by police and my son had not left any note.”
Darshan Solanki (right) with his parents and sister. (File) 
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