IIT Bombay reacts to caste discrimination claims after student suicide

In a recent statement, IIT Bombay firmly denied media reports that the 18-year-old boy who committed suicide on Sunday, February 12, did so due to caste discrimination.

"It is wrong to make such accusations when the police are still investigating the case. Based on initial inputs from friends, there is no indication that the student faced any such discrimination," said the institute in a press release, while requesting that media organizations not disseminate unfounded allegations.

"Please wait for the completion of the ongoing police investigation, as well as an internal investigation by IIT which will be done in a time-bound manner," read IIT's statement.

According to IIT, caste identification is never revealed to anybody (students or faculty) once admission is complete, and students are warned not to seek proxy information such as entrance exam rankings.

Though the authorities are presently investigating the event to determine the cause, a student organisation has claimed caste discrimination because the deceased student was from the Scheduled Caste community.

According to the organisation, IIT Bombay failed to make it inclusive for students from underprivileged populations, who encounter the most abuse.