MUMBAI: High drama unfolded on the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay campus on Sunday as Mumbai Police entered the premises twice, detained protesting students and the grieving parents of Sahil Wakode — a Dalit BTech student who died by suicide in his hostel room about a month ago — and forcibly dismantled a month-old protest site near the institute gate.
Ravindra and Sonali, the parents of Sahil Wakode, had visited the campus on Sunday to perform rituals for their son and spent several hours with students who have been protesting at the site known as the 'Justice Corner' near the institute's main gate. The protest, now a month old, demands accountability for the student's death and concrete measures against alleged caste discrimination on the campus.
According to students present at the site, the parents were subsequently taken forcibly to Azad Maidan police station in south Mumbai and detained there till 6 p.m. The detention of the bereaved parents, who had come to the campus for religious rituals connected to their son's death, has become a focal point of outrage among the student community.
The police action unfolded in two phases through the day. In the morning, Mumbai Police personnel entered the campus and detained eight protesting students, taking them to Rambaug police station. The students were released after about an hour. In the afternoon, the police returned in greater strength, evicted the protesters by force and dismantled the protest site itself, removing banners, posters and other materials that had marked the 'Justice Corner' for the past month.
Students have alleged serious misconduct by the police during the eviction. Those present claim they were kicked in the stomach, choked and had their clothes torn during the forcible removal. Women students have alleged that they were touched inappropriately by police personnel during the operation. These allegations, which could not be independently verified, have been strongly asserted by multiple protesters.
The All India Independent Scheduled Castes Association (AIISCA), which has been supporting the protest, levelled grave charges against the police. Its general secretary Deepali Salve alleged that protesters were "punched, dragged and bitten" and that women were dragged and beaten during the eviction. She said the detainees were taken to three different police stations — Sakinaka, Powai and Azad Maidan — and that around 20 students were dragged into a police bus and detained.
These were the first detentions in the month-long agitation, marking a sharp escalation in the authorities' response.
A central allegation by the students is that the institute administration itself called the police to break up the protest. Under established norms, the police cannot enter an educational campus unless summoned by the institution's administration, and students have cited this to argue that the administration bears responsibility for the crackdown. The institute's response to these claims was awaited at the time of reporting.
The protests were triggered by the death of Sahil Wakode, a Dalit student enrolled in the BTech programme, who died by suicide in his hostel room approximately a month ago. In the weeks since, the 'Justice Corner' near the institute gate has become the hub of a sustained agitation, with students holding that the institute has failed to address the circumstances surrounding his death and the broader question of caste discrimination on campus.
The parents have filed a First Information Report alleging caste discrimination by professor Suryanarayana Doolla. They have demanded the arrest of Doolla and of the institute's director, Shirish Kedare. Both have denied the allegations levelled against them. The filing of the FIR marked a significant turn in the case, bringing the allegations of caste-based harassment into the formal criminal justice process.
The events at IIT Bombay resonate with a longer and painful history of Dalit student deaths in India's premier educational institutions. The suicides of students at institutions such as the University of Hyderabad and IITs in previous years have repeatedly raised questions about the support systems available to students from marginalised backgrounds and about the persistence of caste-based discrimination in spaces that are formally committed to merit and equality.
Each such case has typically been followed by demands for institutional accountability, external inquiries and structural reform — demands that echo in the current agitation at Powai.
Campus protests in India occupy a distinctive legal and political space. While students enjoy the constitutional right to peaceful assembly and expression, institutions retain the authority to regulate the use of campus premises. The intervention of the police on a university campus is invariably a sensitive matter, and Sunday's events — with allegations of excessive force against students and the detention of grieving parents — are likely to intensify the debate.
The allegations of assault, including the claims of inappropriate touching of women students, are particularly serious. If substantiated, they would raise questions not only about the conduct of the specific operation but about the protocols governing police interaction with student protesters. The claims regarding detainees being dispersed across three police stations have also raised concerns among student groups about transparency in the detention process.
As the reporting stood, the response of the Mumbai Police and the IIT Bombay administration to the specific allegations of brutality was awaited. The institute has not yet issued a detailed public statement on whether it summoned the police, on what grounds the protest site was dismantled, and what its position is on the allegations made by the students and AIISCA.
The coming days are likely to determine the trajectory of the agitation. Student groups have indicated that the crackdown has hardened their resolve, while the detention of Wakode's parents has drawn the attention of civil society organisations beyond the campus.
Civil society organisations and student groups from other campuses have begun expressing solidarity with the Powai protesters, and the developments are being closely watched by Dalit rights advocates across the country. Legal aid groups are also examining the detentions and the allegations of excessive force, with the possibility of formal complaints being pursued through the appropriate channels.
Whether the institute initiates a dialogue with the protesters or the confrontation deepens will shape not only the immediate situation at Powai but the broader conversation about caste, accountability and student rights in India's higher education institutions.
(Reporting based on The Telegraph and The Times of India.)