New Delhi [India], September 22 : Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) chief and Lok Sabha MP Chandra Shekhar Azad on Tuesday rebuffed the formal apology issued by IIT Bombay regarding its initial statement in the alleged suicide of second-year student Sahil Wakoda, stating that the apology was "not acceptable."
This comes after IIT Bombay, in an official communication, walked back its previous claims regarding the circumstances leading up to the tragedy, acknowledging that premature assertions had inappropriately framed the events before any due investigative process was carried out. The institution also suspended the deanship of Professor Suryanarayana Doolla, a professor accused of hurling casteist remarks at the deceased student.
In a post on X, Azad said that the apology issued by the premier institution is an important step in the case.
"IIT-Bombay's formal apology for its earlier statement regarding Sahil Wakode's suicide is an important step. Yesterday, we had pointed out that the institute's statement issued on September 19, the day after Sahil ji's death, regarding allegations of mobile phones in the exam and other issues, raises serious questions. Now, IIT-Bombay itself has acknowledged that it was not appropriate to present the circumstances of the incident in a definitive manner before the investigation was complete," he said.
https://x.com/BhimArmyChief/status/2102022556345864568?s=20
The Aazad Samaj Party chief highlighted that Sahil Wakode was a second-year BTech (Energy Science) student at IIT-Bombay and was a talented and hardworking Dalit youth who had secured AIR 614 in JEE Advanced, one of the country's toughest exams.
"By achieving a CGPA of 8.5 in his first year, he had demonstrated his diligence and talent. The untimely death of such a brilliant student has not only inflicted irreparable loss on his family but has also raised serious questions about student safety, dignity, equality, and institutional accountability in the country's prestigious higher education institutions," he said.
He said that the institute's initial September 19 statement, accusing the deceased of cheating during examination, gave ammunition to casteist elements to demean Dalits during a moment of tragic loss, ignoring issues of student safety, dignity, and equality.
"The statement issued by IIT-Bombay on September 19 provided an opportunity to those casteists who are always ready to demean Dalits even in such tragic moments. Now, with the institute's apology, it is clear that it was not appropriate to present the facts related to the incident in a definitive manner before the investigation was complete. In such sensitive cases, institutional responsibility should be even more serious," he said.
Condemning the institute, Azad underlined severe emotional distress inflicted on Sahil's parents, who were forced to see their late child labelled a "cheater" before proper verification took place.
"Imagine what those parents must be going through, who on one hand lost their brilliant child, and on the other hand saw attempts to label that very child a cheater, not only humiliating them but also their entire community. @iitbombay, this apology of yours is not acceptable. This is extremely painful and shameful. Our team is on the ground at the scene," he said.
The Mumbai Police Crime Branch is scrutinising CCTV footage covering the examination hall, campus and hostel, piecing together footage from different locations on the campus to establish Sahil's movements to examine the sequence of events preceding his death.