National Commission for Scheduled Tribes grills IIT-Bombay on counsellor posting

The institute has been defending charges that its alleged failure to create safe spaces for marginalised students led to the alleged suicide of a 18-year-old Dalit student, Darshan Solanki

The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes on February 22 asked the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay why it allowed a counsellor with “casteist sentiment” to continue working with the SC/ST Cell on campus, as the panel continued its investigation into complaints of the institute lacking mental health support for SC/ST students. 

The institute has been defending charges that its alleged failure to create safe spaces for marginalised students led to the alleged suicide of a 18-year-old Dalit student, Darshan Solanki, on February 12. 

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The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), a student body, had in 2022 complained to the NCST that the head counsellor at the Student Wellness Centre (SWC) on the Mumbai campus had signed a public petition to end caste-based reservation and posted about it on social media. The students highlighted that this revelation significantly discouraged SC/ST students from visiting the SWC. 

The institute, responding to the NCST’s investigation, said the counsellor had been warned about avoiding any such posts on social media and immediately asked to take down the post in question. It had added that the counsellor continued to work with the SC/ST Cell of the institute and the SWC. 

On Wednesday, when Director Subhasis Chaudhuri and other officials of the IIT-B appeared before the commission, it asked them, “Is it wise to let a person who is so vocal about her views on reservation and her casteist sentiment to work in the SC/ST Cell?”

The commission members said, “Not only has she been allowed to continue her employment, she has been allowed to continue working in the SC/ST Cell despite the students raising complaints that her remarks makes the SC/ST students feel intimidated and uncomfortable to approach her.”