The News Caravan

Tag: IITB

  • Tell Mumbai Police to lodge FIR in Solanki’s death: IIT-B students to Fadnavis

    Tell Mumbai Police to lodge FIR in Solanki’s death: IIT-B students to Fadnavis

    [ad_1]

    Mumbai: At least three IIT-Bombay students’ associations have written to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, urging him to direct the Mumbai Police and the SIT to accept a complaint by the parents of Darshan Solanki, a Dalit student who ended his life on the campus last month.

    The Ambedkar Phule Periyar Study Circle-IITB, the Ambedkarite Students Collective-IITB and Concerned Alumni of IIT-B have sent a letter to Fadnavis, over a month after Solanki (18) reportedly jumped to death from the seventh floor of his hostel on February 12.

    Solanki’s parents arrived here last week from Ahmedabad to register a complaint, but the Powai police declined it ostensibly on grounds that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up for the purpose is already probing the case.

    Darshan’s father Ramesh Solanki is a plumber, his mother Tarlika is a domestic help, while his sister Jahnavi is studying for her MCA. They have questioned the circumstances leading to Darshan’s death, and rejected outright the interim internal probe panel report of the IIT-B which came out recently.

    “Darshan’s parents wanted to lodge an FIR on March 16 and came all the way from Ahmedabad for the purpose. Despite multiple pleas from the parents and accompanying lawyers, the FIR has not been lodged yet,” the students’ associations informed Fadnavis.

    They also pointed out that as per the Supreme Court, the police stations can register an FIR regardless of an SIT probe, and the desperate Solanki couple got no succour even after meeting the Mumbai Police top brass later.

    “Till now, the SIT based its investigation on the ADR filed by the police. The refusal of SIT to base their investigation on an FIR is a failure to recognise the rights of the family to register a complaint in respect of cognisable offence as provided under the law,” read the letter.

    [ad_2]
    #Mumbai #Police #lodge #FIR #Solankis #death #IITB #students #Fadnavis

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • IIT-B student’s death: Mumbai Police quiz kin; candle marches in Guj on Feb 19

    IIT-B student’s death: Mumbai Police quiz kin; candle marches in Guj on Feb 19

    [ad_1]

    Mumbai: A three-member team of Mumbai Police on Thursday met the family members of Darshan Solanki, a student of IIT-Bombay who ended his life on the Powai campus on February 12 – and recorded their statements, a family member said.

    The police called on Solanki’s family members at their home in Maninagar on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on Thursday morning and posed various questions pertaining to 18-year-old Solanki’s sudden death.

    Simultaneously, several student bodies in Gujarat will hold a peace procession which will culminate with a candle-lit march to pay homage to Solanki, the relative told IANS, but declined to be quoted.

    The procession and candle march will be held in Ahmedabad and several other cities of Gujarat between 6.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. on Sunday, he added.

    A day before, the distraught family had expressed suspicions of foul play behind the extreme measure taken by Solanki – who hailed from a Dalit family – shocking the educational circles all over the country.

    The police had earlier recorded the family’s initial statements and are now questioning other students and hostelites on various aspects, including allegations of caste discrimination, which the IIT-B management has officially denied.

    A student body on the campus, Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle-IITB, had issued a detailed statement last Monday pointing at alleged caste discrimination, which the IIT-B has rejected outright.

    Meanwhile, Dalit leader and Congress MLA from Vadgam, Jignesh Mevani, on Thursday demanded an investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the death of Solanki.

    Mevani told the media in Ahmedabad that the tragic incident involved a Dalit student who got into IIT Bombay after clearing the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) with flying colours.

    The Maharashtra government should set up an SIT to probe the incident because the family suspects foul play, Mevani said. The Dalit leader also demanded that the government should pay Rs 50 lakh compensation to the deceased student’s family.

    Solanki’s father, Ramesh Solanki, has alleged that his son was harassed by the other students because “we are Dalits”.

    “When he visited us during Makar Sankranti, he had complained to his aunt that the other students were harassing him, taunting him that ‘because you are a Dalit, you got an opportunity to study free of cost’,” Ramesh Solanki said.

    In a related development, the students of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalay in Wardha have sent a memorandum to President Draupadi Murmu urging the Centre to enact a ‘Rohith Vemula Act’ to safeguard students from marginalised communities in nationally important institutions of higher learning and end the suicides that are being reported from there, citing the two cases – one each at IIT-B and IIT-Madras this week – and an attempted suicide case in IIT-Madras.

    [ad_2]
    #IITB #students #death #Mumbai #Police #quiz #kin #candle #marches #Guj #Feb

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • IIT-B condoles death of Dalit student, orders probe

    IIT-B condoles death of Dalit student, orders probe

    [ad_1]

    Mumbai: The IIT-Bombay on Monday condoled the death by suicide of B.Tech. First Year Dalit student, Darshan Solanki, terming it as “a great loss to the family and to the IITB community.

    In its first reaction, the IIT-B said: “It is unfortunate that such a loss could not be prevented despite the efforts of the Institute and Student Mentors to support our students. A committee has been constituted to investigate the incident.”

    The IIT-B held a condolence meeting and observed two minutes of silence in memory of the departed soul, said a spokesperson.

    In a shocking incident, Solanki, 18, jumped to his death from the 7th floor of his hostel building in the Powai Campus on Sunday afternoon, after his first semester exams for the Chemical Engineering course a day earlier.

    According to certain reports, Solanki reportedly did not heed warning shouts from other co-students who noticed him just before he took the plunge to death.

    “While we cannot change what has already happened, we will further increase our efforts to prevent such events in future. We pray that his family gets the strength to bear this loss. The Institute is with his family at this difficult time. We deeply mourn the tragic loss of Darshan’s life,” said the IIT-B.

    Earlier on Monday, a student group, the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle-IITB had pointed fingers at the IIT-B for alleged discrimination prevalent on the Powai Campus against students from reserved categories, various lapses on the part of the management to address their distress, etc., and sought redressal.

    [ad_2]
    #IITB #condoles #death #Dalit #student #orders #probe

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )