The day was 12th February 2023. An 18-year-old student of chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay by the name of Darshan Solanki took his own life. He was a Hindu Dalit, who hailed from Ahmedabad city of Gujarat.
He jumped to death from the 7th floor of his hostel building. It had only been a day since the semester exams ended. Solanki had even called his mother before committing suicide and discussed plans about having a family get-together on 14th February that year.
Soon after the incident, speculations began about the cause of Darshan Solanki’s untimely death. A notorious organisation on campus named ‘Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC)’ alleged that the victim took his own life due to ‘caste discrimination.’
space inclusive and safe for dalit bahujan adivasi students. First year students face the most harassment in terms of anti reservation sentiments and taunts of non deserving and non- meritorious. There is a lack of representation of faculty and counsellors from the marginalized
— APPSC IIT Bombay (@AppscIITb) February 12, 2023
Caste-baiters exploit the death of Darshan Solanki
It was also quick to dub the tragic incident as an ‘institutional murder.’ APPSC even tried to falsely implicate Darshan Solank’s roommate for ‘abetment of suicide.’
Asking rank has been a tactic used by savarnas to mark SC/ST students and harass them. Despite the testimony by his senior, the committee hid it from the report and lied that he denied instances of discrimination. #justicefordarshansolanki https://t.co/wGaRo908xx
— APPSC IIT Bombay (@AppscIITb) March 12, 2023
The usual suspects joined the fray and declared that the victim died due to ‘caste discrimination.’ This was prior to the conclusion of internal investigation by IIT-B and the Powai police in Mumbai.
Despite multiple complaints IIT Mumbai paid no heed to systemic bullying and caste discrimination. This is institutional murder, Darshan Solanki’s death is on the institution.
— @UrbanShrink 🌻 (@UrbanShrink) February 13, 2023
IITs are breeding ground for casteist monsters! pic.twitter.com/JcibCNxxvI
Mission Ambedkar, another Twitter account with penchant for purveying fake anti-Hindu claims, called the suicide of Darshan Solanki as “caste-based institutional murder”.
Caste-based institutional murder!
— Mission Ambedkar (@MissionAmbedkar) February 13, 2023
Darshan Solanki, SC student at IIT Bombay fell victim to casteism and died by jumping from the college hostel.
The culprits shouldn't be spared at any cost. We demand a fair inquiry into this. pic.twitter.com/VHZFc2zLSm
Subhajit Naskar, an Assistant Professor with Jadavpur University, took to Twitter to make sweeping claims that higher caste students in elite colleges lack “social empathy” and “moral solidarities”, alleging that Darshan Solanki was a victim of “caste supremacist mechanism”.
IITs, IIMs ,IIsc lack social empathy and moral solidarities from oppressive upper caste students, professors, and research scholars, our brother Darshan Solanki is the victim of that caste supremacist mechanism.
— Subhajit Naskar (@subhajit_n) February 16, 2023
Jignesh Mewani, who was arrested for spreading malicious fake news, also propagated the disinformation that Solanki ended his life due to alleged caste discrimination.
Darshan Solanki had to end his life due to alleged caste discrimination at the IIT-Bombay campus.
— Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) February 17, 2023
We seek justice for Darshan and his family.#JusticeForDarshanSolanki #IITBombay pic.twitter.com/jvRJMOBZJF
Internal panel ruled out caste discrimination but leftists continued their propaganda
In March 2023, an internal committee commissioned by the IIT-B found “no specific evidence of direct caste-based discrimination” resulting in the death of Darshan Solanki. The panel also alluded to his “deteriorating academic performance” as a possible reason for taking his life.
Despite this, leftist portal Newslaundry used the unfortunate incident to claim ‘caste discrimination’ because students were asked about their JEE rank at the institute.
Arrest of Arman Iqbal
On 9th April 2023, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Mumbai Police arrested a 19-year-old batchmate of Darshan Solanki named Arman Iqbal Khatri in connection to the former’s suicide.
The SIT had recovered a suicide note on 3rd March 2023 from Solanki’s room that read, “Arman has killed me.” During the inquiry, the investigators discovered that harassment by Arman might have forced the victim to end his life. Handwriting experts had confirmed that the suicide note was indeed written by Darshan Solanki.
A senior police officer told the media, “Based on the statements of other students we have recorded, it has come to light that nearly five days prior to the suicide, Solanki had passed a communal remark which had irked Khatri. The latter had threatened him with a cutter and said he would not spare him. Since then, Solanki was petrified and had also apologised to Khatri on a couple of occasions and the two had hugged as well. However, it appears he continued to be scared and had also developed a fever a day before he committed suicide.”
IIT BOMBAY SUICIDE CASE
— Mirror Now (@MirrorNow) April 9, 2023
SIT arrests student in connection with #DarshanSolanki suicide case.@Kumar_Ankit03 reports | #IITBombay pic.twitter.com/JPsPbvvQ67
Darshan Solanki feared for his life
It later emerged Arman Malik and Solanki stayed on the same floor of the IIT-B hostel. In April 2023, the Mumbai police recorded the statement of a batchmate of Darshan Solanki whom Solanki confided that he felt threatened by Arman Iqbal a day before his suicide.
In his statement to the police, the student said that when he met Darshan Solanki on February 11, the latter told him to “not be seen with him or else Khatri would harm him as well”.
An SIT source was quoted by media houses as saying that the student had met Darshan Solanki in his hostel room. “The latter told him to go away since if Khatri saw them together, he would harm him as well. When the student asked Solanki why Khatri would harm him, Solanki told him that he had made a communal remark, which had irked Khatri, who threatened him,” the officer added.
Notably, a report by Mid-Day suggested that the SIT has learnt that Solanki had apologised to Arman Iqbal multiple times in the week leading up to his suicide on February 12. “We believe that due to the threats, he apologised and wanted to mend his relationship with his classmate, or something else happened to him that led him to take such a drastic step,” the officer added.
Conclusion
After Arman Iqbals role in the unfortunate death of Darshan Solanki emerged, the leftist cabal that was lampooning on ‘caste discrimination’ theory went into hiding.
Even the APPSC stopped discussing his suicide case and moved on to other issues for ‘caste baiting.’ In the end, it became clear that the untimely death of the 18-year-old boy was never their concern.
They exploited his case for their agenda and stopped seeking justice when it did not suit their nefarious intentions anymore. Sources told OpIndia that the accused Arman Iqbal is out on bail. Justice still awaits Darshan Solanki as we observe his first death anniversary.
