IIT-Bombay panel rules out casteism for Dalit student’s death

The 12-member committee noted that “the despair of deteriorating academic performance appears to be a very strong  reason which might have affected him very seriously”

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. 

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.