The Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch (DSMM) – a national platform of Dalit organisations, with former Lok Sabha MP and CPI(M) politburo member Ram Chandra Dome as its general secretary – has written to the Union human resources development minister, and demanded an inquiry into the death incident of Darshan Solanki, the IIT-Bombay student.
In a letter written to minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the Manch has stated that the 18-year-old BTech student’s suicide inside the campus on February 12, “brings back memories of the Rohit Vemula incident”. The Manch has alleged that despite several complaints raised by students’ organisation(s) concerning caste discrimination, and other issues, not much has been done.
“The grave concern that has been in discussion for the past few years is the rising number of student suicides from various higher education institutions including IITs,” the letter mentions. The letter adds that data tabled in Parliament by the minister of education, show 122 student deaths by suicide between 2014 and 2021.
“Among that, IITs and NITs account for more than half of the student deaths. The category-wise data also points towards a larger proportion of deaths of students from socially and economically backward communities,” the letter adds.
The demands put forth before the minister is for a high-level, time-bound inquiry into the incident by a retired high court judge, compensation to Solanki’s family, taking steps for the fulfilment of all vacant faculty positions in IITs, a special drive for fulfilling reservation quota belong to SC/ST, and OBC communities, and remedial measures to prevent recurrence of incidents of this nature.
“This is not the first incident. What’s missing is remedial measures. Unfortunately, the incidents are treated as trivial. The attitudes of institutions, faculty members, and students should change. Also, there should be exemplary punishment for those who are found guilty. After Vemula’s death, Dalit organisations have continued to ask for a special law – as ‘Rohit Act’ – to deal with such incidents,” Dome told DH.