A month after a student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay died by suicide, his parents were detained by the police on Sunday while they were speaking to students protesting on campus against the incident.
The police detained the parents and him soon after Gaikwad left the campus, and released them more than three hours later, according to Ingale. “We had gone to the institute to pay homage to our son. They requested the police to release the students, and subsequently paid homage to their son, with Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad and others in attendance. Protesters alleged that some of them were injured while being detained by the police. After the detentions, the remaining students staged a protest outside the IIT-B director’s residence, questioning why the police had been called to the campus. “Our protest is about issues within the institute, and the institute must answer our questions. Instead, the police were called and we were taken away in a bus in front of the director.
Advocate Siddharth Ingale, the family’s lawyer, said he too was detained along with the deceased student’s parents and taken to a police station around 28 km away from the institute. As the BoG chairperson was unable to meet them due to health reasons, the father submitted a letter to the institute’s registrar, raising several demands related to the investigation into his son’s death.
the police forcefully picked us up and put us in a police van,” the student’s father told reporters While we were talking to the students who have been protesting for justice and raising various demands. “We were released after nearly three hours,” Ingale said. However, when they reached the campus, they found that the protesting students had been detained by police, said Ingale. Speaking to reporters, the father said that he was unhappy with the ongoing probe and wanted an officer of deputy commissioner of police (DCP ) rank to be appointed investigating officer. We now want answers,” said one of the protesting students.
Parents Seek Records and Details of Investigation
The institute must clarify who asked the student to write the letter, the circumstances in which it was signed and whether examination rules allowed such a demand. The parents also sought a copy of the alleged apology letter that the student was reportedly asked to write following an alleged examination malpractice. They also sought copies of the examination and invigilation rules, reports of the incident, records of medical assistance and emergency response, and details of any institutional proceedings initiated against Professor Suryanarayan Doolla , who has been named as an accused in the first information report (FIR).
