Ravindra Chakradhar Wakode and Sonali Wakode continued their hunger strike at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan on Friday, its 24th day. They are the parents of Sahil Wakode, a Dalit student at IIT Bombay, who died by suicide on 18 September. They call his death an “institutional murder” and are demanding action against the institute’s director, Prof. Shireesh Kedare, and professor Suryanarayana Doolla, whom they hold responsible.
As the strike enters its fourth week, activists supporting the family say the response of the Mumbai Police has hardened. They describe house arrests, repeated detentions and a case of unlawful assembly, according to The Wire.
Who Sahil Wakode was
Sahil was a second-year BTech student. His father has said he wanted to be an engineer from Class 5 and hoped to become an IAS officer after IIT Bombay. ThePrint also reported that he was removed from an examination hours before his death.
An FIR has been registered against Professor Doolla on the family’s complaint under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The family alleges harassment and caste discrimination. Further, it has been reported that Doolla was removed as Dean (Administrative Affairs) but remains on the staff. His supporters in the IIT Faculty Forum have held a protest in his favour.
What the family and protesters are demanding
The family and the groups backing them have listed four demands, first is that the record set straight. IIT Bombay released CCTV footage of Sahil in the examination hall and of him being taken to the first floor. He was then taken to the Head of Department’s room, where a group of teachers questioned him. His father says that is where he was harassed and “tortured” and accuses Director Kedare of hiding the footage that would prove it.
Secondly, The Director’s removal. The protesters want Kedare removed from his post. Third, the Publication of the internal inquiry report, and the complete suspension of Doolla, so that evidence cannot be tampered with.
Lastly, The Rohith Vemula Act to be implemented in institutions like IIT Bombay, to protect marginalised students from discriminatory evaluation and exclusion.
The campaign also questions the institute’s own account. IIT Bombay issued a statement after the death attributing it to cheating in an exam, and deleted the statement after public outcry. IIT Bombay has not, in the reports reviewed, explained why it was withdrawn.
House arrests and detentions
When media spoke to several activists about what has happened to the protests since they began. They say police have restricted them in ways they have not seen before.
Samya Korde, the 26-year-old president of the Maharashtra Progressive Students’ Union, said plainclothes police sit outside her home for eight to nine hours at a stretch. She had shared posts calling for a candlelight vigil at Chaityabhoomi, the Dadar memorial linked to B.R. Ambedkar. “House arrest is new,” she said.
Deepali Salve, general secretary of the All India Independent Scheduled Castes Association (AIISCA), the group that called the silent vigil, says she was put under house arrest and told “the order has come from above”. She has been placed under house arrest three times, she said. After being taken to RCF Police Station in Chembur, she was held until 6:30 pm and then went to Chaityabhoomi to pay homage. AIISCA says it had taken permission for the vigil.
The Wire has seen a copy of an FIR for unlawful assembly against Salve and 12 others, including comedian Masoom Rajwani and AIISCA’s Maharashtra state president Prashant Randive.
At Chaityabhoomi, activists say those who questioned the use of force were bundled into buses and taken to Tardeo Police Station. Candles and photographs of Sahil were removed from their bags, they said, though they were later allowed to hold the vigil outside the station.
Two activists described injuries. Tejas, convenor of Aamchi Ladhai Aamchi Padhai, said he has been dragged along the ground repeatedly since the protests began, and that his kurta was torn. Aamir Kazi of the All India Students’ Federation said he has been detained at least nine or ten times, and that on 11 October he was detained while walking alone to his sister’s house. He told The Wire he now has a slipped disc and walks with a stick, and that a scan shared with the publication lists “assault” in his clinical history. The Wire sent questions to Tardeo and Bhoiwada police stations and said it would update its report on a response.
The restrictions go beyond individuals, according to The Wire. At Azad Maidan, protests are not permitted on weekends, and on weekdays protesters must leave by 6 pm. Protests outside the IIT Bombay campus are not allowed. Students protesting inside the campus were violently detained, according to the report.
“Chaityabhoomi is our place”
Rahul Sonpimple, AIISCA’s founder president, said Chaityabhoomi is for the Dalit community what a masjid is for Muslims or a temple for Hindus. “Chaityabhoomi is our place,” he said, adding that detentions began the moment they decided to go there. He alleged that police personnel threw “Jai Bhim” back at protesters as a slur.
Salve alleged unequal treatment. “There’s a big difference between Savarna detentions and Dalit detentions,” she said.
The groups also point to numbers. Citing an essay in The Wire by Anand Teltumbde, the report says only five of the 412 professors at IIT Bombay belong to the Scheduled Castes.
What remains unanswered
The Wake family’s demands remain the same as they were 24 days ago: the CCTV record explained, the inquiry report published, and the officials they name held to account. In the material reviewed, IIT Bombay has not said why its original statement on the death was withdrawn or whether it will release the inquiry report. The Mumbai Police have not publicly explained the house arrests or the basis for the FIR.
Sahil’s parents are not asking for sympathy. They are asking whether an institute that took in their son can be questioned about how it treated him. Until the footage, the report and the officials’ actions are explained, the hunger strike will go on.
