Mumbai: As many as 21 IIT-Bombay faculty members have written to the institute’s director, condemning what they called ‘unprecedented’ police action against students peacefully protesting on campus on Sunday and seeking an explanation.
A small section of students have been protesting for over a month after second-year B Tech student Sahil Wakode died by suicide on Sept 18. They have been demanding action and accountability from the institute since then.
The letter, sent on Monday, came a day after students were twice detained from the campus protest site, dubbed as ‘Justice Corner’. Police also allegedly dismantled the protest site, removing banners and posters. Sahil’s parents, Ravindra and Sonali Wakode, who visited the institute to pay homage to him alleged they were forcibly taken to Azad Maidan police station and detained till 6pm.
The faculty members, in the letter, sought to know whether any institute functionary had authorised police action. If not, they asked whether the administration would seek an FIR against the police officers responsible for the “act of violence” committed against the students.
At the outset, the faculty members acknowledged differing views on the ongoing protest, with some considering it irrelevant or damaging to IIT-B’s reputation, while others viewed it as a necessary call for the institute to reflect on its educational commitments and responsibilities amid its history of student suicides. They condemned the forceful removal of students who have been peacefully protesting for several weeks.
The faculty members sought explanations from the administration regarding who authorised police to enter the campus and detain students, the use of ‘brute force’ during both rounds of detention, and the alleged failure of institute officials to intervene or help the detainees. “We have learnt that students detained at the police station tried to contact the dean of student affairs, Quick Response Team and chief security officer for help, but their requests were not entertained and that no institute functionary came to the police station. What accounts for it?” they asked.
They also questioned the alleged vandalism at the protest site, which displayed images of Jyotirao Phule, Savitribai Phule, and Dr B R Ambedkar. They sought an explanation for the administration’s refusal to return students’ personal belongings, including laptops, and asked whether due procedure had been followed in seizing them.
IIT-B authorities did not comment on the letter.
Sources claimed that police had come to the campus only because Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad planned to visit that day. The institute had not responded to the MP’s letter seeking permission, and her visit coincided with a visit by Wakode’s parents.
Sources also claimed that students jeering at police minutes before Gaikwad and Wakode’s parents arrived had prompted the detentions. Regarding the confiscation of personal belongings, they claimed that the items were lying at the gate and blocking the entrance. The institute plans to return them to the students in accordance with its lost-and-found SOP, they added.
