IIT Bombay suicide: Parents detained during campus visit, protest site dismantled

The family has sought preservation of CCTV footage, examination records and other documents covering the student’s movements before his death.

A month after a student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay died by suicide, his parents were detained by the police on Sunday while they were speaking to students protesting on campus against the incident.

On Sunday, the parents paid homage to their son, with Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad and others in attendance (Hindustan Times)

“We had gone to the institute to pay homage to our son. While we were talking to the students who have been protesting for justice and raising various demands, the police forcefully picked us up and put us in a police van,” the student’s father told reporters.

Advocate Siddharth Ingale, the family’s lawyer, said he too was detained along with the deceased student’s parents and taken to a police station around 28 km away from the institute. “We were released after nearly three hours,” Ingale said.

On Sunday, the parents visited the IIT-B campus to pay homage to their son, who was found dead in his hostel room on September 18. They had sought permission for their visit from the institute’s director via email, and had planned to meet protesting students, visit their son’s hostel room and meet the chairperson of the Board of Governors (BoG).

However, when they reached the campus, they found that the protesting students had been detained by police, said Ingale. They requested the police to release the students, and subsequently paid homage to their son, with Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad and others in attendance. As the BoG chairperson was unable to meet them due to health reasons, the father submitted a letter to the institute’s registrar, raising several demands related to the investigation into his son’s death.

According to Ingale, the police detained the parents and him soon after Gaikwad left the campus, and released them more than three hours later. Speaking to reporters, the father said that he was unhappy with the ongoing probe and wanted an officer of deputy commissioner of police (DCP) rank to be appointed investigating officer.

Parents Seek Records and Details of Investigation

In the letter to the BoG chairperson, the parents, through their lawyer, sought the preservation of CCTV footage and institutional records to establish their son’s movements between 12.38pm and 8.30pm on September 18. They asked the institute to provide access to available footage from the examination hall, corridors, offices, campus roads and other locations he may have visited.

The parents also sought a copy of the alleged apology letter that the student was reportedly asked to write following an alleged examination malpractice. The institute must clarify who asked the student to write the letter, the circumstances in which it was signed and whether examination rules allowed such a demand. They also sought copies of the examination and invigilation rules, reports of the incident, records of medical assistance and emergency response, and details of any institutional proceedings initiated against Professor Suryanarayan Doolla, who has been named as an accused in the first information report (FIR).

Protest and Demands for Arrest

On Sunday, activists from the All India Independent Scheduled Castes Association (AIISCA), the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA), the All India Students Federation (AISF) and other organisations staged a protest outside the campus, demanding the arrest of Professor Doolla.

Protesters alleged that some of them were injured while being detained by the police. After the detentions, the remaining students staged a protest outside the IIT-B director’s residence, questioning why the police had been called to the campus.

“Our protest is about issues within the institute, and the institute must answer our questions. Instead, the police were called and we were taken away in a bus in front of the director. We now want answers,” said one of the protesting students.

Students also alleged that the police dismantled ‘Justice Corner’, a spot outside the campus where they had been protesting for the past month, raising questions about the investigation and demanding action against the accused professor.

Former BoG Chairperson Appeals for Restraint

Former chairperson of the IIT-B BoG Sharad Saraf issued a statement on Sunday saying while everyone was deeply concerned about what had happened to the deceased student, efforts must be made to ensure that no further unfortunate incident takes place on campus.

“The well-being, safety and academic future of every student must remain paramount. I sincerely appeal to all political parties to exercise restraint and keep politics away from IIT Bombay. Students must be allowed to prepare for and appear in their examinations in a peaceful, stable and academically conducive environment,” the statement said.

Saraf warned that if further disruptions continued to jeopardise students’ academic performance and well-being, all stakeholders must be prepared to accept responsibility for the consequences of their actions.

“We cannot afford to wait for another tragedy before recognising the harm that prolonged disruption can cause. Stop playing with the lives and futures of 12,000 IIT Bombay students. Keep politics away from IIT Bombay. Let our students focus on their education, research and innovation,” Saraf said.

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