On 17-02-23, around 3 PM, concerned students from campus, including\nmembers representing different student groups, peacefully gathered in\nfront of the main building to submit their grievances and demands to the\nDirector. However, the students were welcomed with hostility with an\nunusual deployment of security in every nook and corner of the\nbuilding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People claiming to be security personnel started videographing\nstudents without their permission. When a fellow student later took a\nvideo of the gathered students on the premises, the Chief Security\nOfficer took it as an opportunity to create a ruckus and started\nshouting at the gathered students, claiming it was the students who were\ncreating \u2018disturbance.\u2019 To disperse the students, he went on making\nincongruous statements, saying the space does not belong to students as\nit is a protected area by virtue of the space belonging to a central\ngovernment institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the students insisted that they were there to submit their\ndemands to the Director, the CSO, along with deployed personnel for\nsecurity, stopped the students saying the Director was in a meeting.\nWhen the students said they could wait until the meeting was over, the\nCSO started intimidating the students with his verbal and physical\nconduct. When the students said they are determined to meet the Director\nto submit their demands in person, even if the Director\u2019s meeting went\non for a while, the CSO threatened that he knows how to \u2018 behave\u2019 to a\ncrowd with the power vested with him. The CSO failed to act with\nrestraint and respect and showed he can use his authority to torment the\nstudents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Submitting our concerns to the Director in a peaceful manner is a\nvery basic democratic right of us. The institute seem to be afraid of\neven we having that much. We condemn this apathetic approach by the\nadministration, even in a dire situation like this, where a student took\nhis life on the institute\u2019s premises. Instead of listening to the\nstudents\u2019 concerns, the institute is hiding its head in the sand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later in the day the director sent mail giving some \u2018updates\u2019 on the\n\u2018untimely death of of Mr. Darshan Solanki\u2019. There was no update in the\nemail about the open house that was promised at the condolence meeting\nearlier. The mail finally informed officially about the investigation\ncommittee constituted by the institute, which has started working\nalready. The mail also has provided an email id to provide information\nto the committee. The mail is however silent on our demand that an\nexternal expert member should also be included in the Committee to\nensure a fair investigation. It also did not communicate whether the\ncommittee had proper representation of SC ST members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We reiterate our demand for the open house being conducted as early\nas possible, as it was promised at the condolence meeting. The academic\nactivities need to be suspended on the day of the open house so that\nmaximum participation is ensured and the students feel encouraged to\nexpress their concerns without any fear. The campus needs an open\ndialogue about the concerns faced by the students and the administration\nneeds to acknowledge this. If the death of one of our fellow students is\nnot enough to make the administration realize that there is something\nseriously wrong in its approach, then we don\u2019t know what else would\nbe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We also reiterate our demand that the investigation committee should\ninclude an external member to ensure fairness, and it needs to be more\ntransparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We fully support the call for a nation wide candle march on 19th\nFebruary given by Darshan\u2019s family to ensure justice is made in this\ncase. We appeal the student community everywhere in the country to\nparticipate in this call by conducting candle marches on their\nrespective campuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let us all have an open dialogue about discrimination on campuses. Let us all make our campuses more inclusive and democratic. Let us be united to ensure justice for Darshan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
APPSC, IIT Bombay<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On 17-02-23, around 3 PM, concerned students from campus, including members representing different student groups, peacefully gathered in front of the main building to submit their grievances and demands to the Director. However, the students were welcomed with hostility with an unusual deployment of security in every nook and corner of the building. People claiming… Read More »Statement on the Director\u2019s Apathy and Disdain Against the Collective Demands of the Student Community of IIT Bombay for Ensuring Justice for Darshan<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15,14,13],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80,"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions\/80"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}