Sahil Wakode's parents resume hunger strike at Azad Maidan, seek professor's arrest

The parents of Sahil Wakode, a second-year BTech student at IIT Bombay who died by suicide earlier this month, held a hunger strike at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Monday, renewing their demand for the arrest of Professor Suryanarayana Doolla, who has been named in the FIR registered in connection with their son's death.

Ravindra and Sonali Wakode began their protest at 10 a.m. and continued until about 6.30 p.m. Through advocate Nikhil Kamble, the family submitted a handwritten application to the senior police inspector of Azad Maidan police station seeking permission for Ravindra Wakode to resume the agitation from 9 a.m. on Tuesday, pressing for justice for Sahil and for Doolla's arrest.

The family also raised questions about IIT Bombay's internal inquiry into the death, saying that no member of the institute-appointed committee has reached out to them so far. The institute set up a 10-member panel to examine the circumstances surrounding Sahil's death. The committee was initially given a week to complete its inquiry and has since received a one-week extension. A section of students has objected to the panel's composition and demanded that it be reconstituted.

Sahil, a student in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering, died by suicide in his hostel room on September 18, hours after he was allegedly found in possession of a mobile phone during a mid-semester examination. Doolla was the course instructor and was invigilating that examination.

After his death, Sahil's parents alleged that he had been subjected to caste-based discrimination and harassment at the institute. Police subsequently registered an FIR against Doolla containing allegations of abetment to suicide and offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The allegations remain under investigation.

IIT Bombay has relieved Doolla of his administrative responsibilities and placed him on leave pending the inquiries. The Mumbai Police Crime Branch, which is handling the investigation, has been recording statements and examining CCTV footage and other digital evidence.

Monday's protest was not the family's first at Azad Maidan. The Wakodes had staged a hunger strike there last week after they were stopped from protesting outside the IIT Bombay campus. They had called off that agitation temporarily while cautioning that they would resume it if no arrest was made.