Weourn yet another student suicide on this campus. Darshan lanki, an 18 year old Dalit student jumped off from his hostel building on Sunday, February 12. A life of dreams and ambitions came to an abrupt end.
The family and community of the young man would forever wonder what went wrong with their bright child and a premier institute. There will be explanations of how he could not survive the competition, that the academic pressure is ruthless, and the IIT-dream is only for the strong-willed. We do not know what pushed him to this end: caste discrimination or unendurable stress. What we know for sure is this is an institutional issue. Let us stop looking at student suicides across campuses as isolated incidents.
So begins the statement by Ambedkar-Periyar-Phule Study Circle (APPSC) IIT Bombay on the intstitutional murder of a young student.
Given the grave nature of these events, ACDR is republishing this statement and various follow-up statements that were written by APPSC and allied organisations regarding the institute response.
- How Many More Darshans and Anikets Need to Die?: Statement on the Institutional Murder of Darshan Solanki
- Collective Demands on Behalf of the Student Community of IIT Bombay for Ensuring Justice for Darshan Solanki
- Dear Administration, Start Learning, at least Now…
- What We Need is an “Institute of Empathy”
- Statement on the Director’s Apathy and Disdain Against the Collective Demands of the Student Community of IIT Bombay for Ensuring Justice for Darshan