Question mark on internal panel report: IIT students

In an interim report submitted on March 2, the 12-member committee had cited Solanki's “deteriorating academic performance” as a possible cause leading to his suicide. The panel had said there was no specific evidence of Solanki facing direct caste-based discrimination, as was alleged by his family.

Question mark on internal panel report, IIT bombay student suicide case, Lapses in probe by local police station, Lapses in Darshan Singh Solanki suicide case, missed ‘suicide note’, Indian express

Meanwhile, Solanki's parents, who have been demanding that an FIR be lodged into the case, have refrained from doing so after the “suicide note” was found. (Representational/File)

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

Students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, on Tuesday questioned the report of the institute’s internal committee looking into the February 12 death of first-year student Darshan Solanki, a day after a purported “suicide note” was recovered from his room that named a batchmate.

In an interim report submitted on March 2, the 12-member committee had cited Solanki’s “deteriorating academic performance” as a possible cause leading to his suicide. The panel had said there was no specific evidence of Solanki facing direct caste-based discrimination, as was alleged by his family.

While IIT denied to comment stating that the Mumbai Police SIT has not communicated anything to it yet, a PhD student said, “The internal committee has shared that it spoke to Darshan’s wing-mates and classmates. Yet, there was no mention about any altercation between him and a fellow student, as mentioned by SIT now.”

Another student said, “The administration should issue a communication on what exactly is happening. The new development has really put a question mark on the work done by internal panel, that had put the blame on Darshan, based on his deteriorating academic performance.”

Meanwhile, Solanki’s parents, who have been demanding that an FIR be lodged into the case, have refrained from doing so after the “suicide note” was found.

Former MP Prof Bhalchandra Mungekar said, “The SIT wanted the Solanki family’s FIR to include the findings of its investigation. But the family disagreed, stating that their FIR should be as per their original complaint, which is about caste-based discrimination faced by Darshan on campus.”
While the parents did not visit the SIT on Tuesday, the family met Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi president Prakash Ambedkar.

Ambedkar said, “The parents said they did not know the boy named in the alleged note. Instead, they feel that the police should probe what they discussed with their son.”

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram