After student’s suicide, IIT Bombay plans curriculum reforms to reduce stress

Mumbai:

The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay has set up a panel to conduct a “parallel” probe into the death of a B.Tech first-year student amid allegations of caste bias and urged its students to come forward with “relevant” information .

The panel is headed by Professor Nand Kishore and also includes members of the SC/ST student cell, including faculty and students, some student mentor coordinators and the chief medical officer in charge of IIT Bombay Hospital, Subhasish Chowdhary, director of the institute said in a statement. Saturday.

Darshan Solanki (18), from the Scheduled Caste community, died on February 12 after allegedly committing suicide by jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building in IIT’s Powai campus, but his family suspected foul play in his death. and said they faced discrimination.

Powai police is probing the matter and has also visited Solanki’s house in Ahmedabad.

Highlighting that Professor Nand Kishore was until recently the chief vigilance officer of IIT Bombay and is experienced “in these matters”, Chowdhury said the committee is actively meeting all those who may have relevant information.

Chowdhary appealed through the statement, “If you have any information that you think may be relevant, please reach out to the committee by meeting any member of the committee, or by emailing Professor Nand Kishore or Powai Police. “

IIT Bombay and the police are actively probing the “environment, incidents and reasons behind Darshan’s tragic death”. Chowdhary said the police have questioned a large number of people and have also taken possession of Solanki’s phone and laptop for forensic analysis.

In the statement, Chowdhary said IIT B is working towards tweaking its UG curriculum, starting with the batch of 2022, to make it “more relevant and motivating for students and reduce some stress”. .

Calling some media reports about the student’s death “premature”, Chowdhury said that “since the matter is sub-judice, we cannot comment on the reasons until the police report or our inquiry committee Report not generated”.

According to Chowdhary, IIT Bombay has an SC/ST student cell, where students can reach out in case of issues including discrimination.

“We are actively working to create an inclusive campus where all students feel at home,” Chowdhury said.

He said that he strongly warns against discrimination of any kind during the formal orientation of new students and also sensitizes all students not to ask for proxy information like rank in the entrance test. “We have a very strict policy on discrimination by faculty,” Chowdhary said.

Solanki’s family on Wednesday claimed that he faced discrimination at IIT Bombay for belonging to the SC community and there was a strong possibility that he was “murdered”.

According to a police officer, his parents had gone to Mumbai to collect their son’s body. The officer had earlier said that in his initial statements, he had not objected to the investigation or expressed doubt over the cause of his son’s death.

Gujarat Congress MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani demanded a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into Solanki’s death.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)