New Delhi, February 24, 2023 (PPI-OT):Students belonging to the Fraternity Movement, Student Islamic Organisation (SIO), Bhim Army Students Federation (BASF), Democratic Students Union (DSU) and other organisations held a demonstration outside Delhi University campus to express solidarity with the family of Darshan Solanki, a Dalit student of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, who died allegedly by suicide on February 12. The student groups termed the death of the students an ‘institutional murder’ and demanded justice for him.
According to Solanki’s family members, he had faced caste discrimination at the campus as he was a Dalit. Nahala, Fraternity Movement’s DU Joint secretary who was a part of the gathering said, “It is now necessary to raise questions on the existing caste discrimination and Islamophobia in the educational institutions and University campuses”. Students asserted that they will continue raising questions till the caste hegemony is not destroyed in the educational spaces of India. “This gathering is organised to seek justice for Darshan Solanki since it has been a week and no development in the investigation process can be seen,” said a student while talking to Clarion India. According to reports, IIT has set up an internal committee to investigate the circumstances that led to the death of the student.
The demonstration was supposed to take place inside the university campus but students alleged that they were repeatedly interrupted by the university guards and officials, so they had to do it outside the Arts faculty. “Due to the interruption, the program which was intended to happen inside the campus was moved outside the gate of the Arts faculty”, said Hanan Cmr, secretary, Fraternity Movement, DU. The gathering was addressed by DU Professor Jitendra Meena, Sahad (Fraternity Movement), Ashutosh (BASF) and Sujith (DSU).
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