Trial to begin in abetment of suicide case of IIT Bombay student Darshan Solanki as accused Armaan Iqbal Khatri withdraws petition
Nearly two and a half years after first-year IIT Bombay student Darshan Solanki died by suicide, the long-delayed trial against the main accused, Armaan Iqbal Khatri, is finally set to begin. Khatri, who was originally mentioned in the FIR under abetment of suicide charges, had approached the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of the case.
However, during the hearing on Friday, both the state government and Darshan’s lawyers opposed his petition, resulting in its withdrawal of the same and paving the way for trial proceedings to begin in the Sessions Court. A bench of Justice Ajay Gadkari and Justice Rajesh Patil allowed the withdrawal of the petition.
The path to trial has faced multiple delays, primarily because of Armaan’s legal challenges. He went to the Bombay High Court, appealing to it to quash the FIR lodged by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Mumbai Police.
A division bench of Justice Ajay Gadkari and Justice Rajesh Patil heard his plea on Friday. Armaan Iqbal Khatri was represented by Advocate Vijay Hiremath. He argued that there were inadequate reasons to initiate charges. But these pleas faced strong opposition. Special Public Prosecutor Prakash Salsingikar, representing the state, and lawyers Sandesh More and Hitendra Gandhi, appearing for Darshan’s relatives, asked the court to turn down the petition. Armaan’s lawyers were confronted with this resistance and withdrew the plea, thus eliminating the last legal hurdle before trial.
Background of the case
On 12th February, 2023, there was a tragedy on the IIT Bombay campus when Darshan, a first-year chemical engineering student, jumped off the seventh floor of his hostel and died. The event triggered immediate action: Mumbai Police established a special investigation team (SIT), which found a handwritten note from Darshan’s room. The note hinted at harassment and emotional distress for communal remarks by Armaan Iqbal Khatri, compelling investigators to register an FIR under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) and charge Armaan, a classmate.
Allegatoins of caste discrimination
Right from the beginning, the case was in the public eye not only for the tragedy but also the allegations of caste discrimination made by lefstist groups.
Darshan was a Dalit student from a small town, and in no time, voices from the Ambedkar-Periyar-Phule Study Circle (APPSC) and other leftist groups accused the institute of ignoring caste-based harassment. They generated testimonies alleging Darshan was excluded by classmates who came to know of his background and mocked him as a reserved-category student.
The APPSC called for the invocation of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, demanding that IIT Bombay and Mumbai Police have ignored key evidence of caste-based victimisation. Their allies claimed that Darshan’s isolation and exclusion, rather than academic pressure, caused him to take his life.
However, when it was learned that the accused was not an Upper Caste Hindu man, but Armaan Iqbal Khatri, the ‘caste discrimination’ angle fizzled out. From the testimonials of other students, it was learnt that after Darshan made a communal remark, Armaan had threatened to kill him with a cutter, and has said he would not spare him. After that, Solanki was petrified and had also apologised to Khatri.
In response to the case, IIT Bombay convened a 12-member committee to investigate the situation. The committee decided that Darshan’s poor academic progress and fall in attendance were major reasons. Their report did not suggest caste discrimination or bullying but instead personal academic issues.
In turn, Mumbai Police SIT followed this view. They asserted that the note discovered in Darshan’s handwriting indicated peer bullying, but nothing was said about caste-based abuse in the official report. Darshan’s father Ramesh Solanki objected to this finding, alleging that these official accounts neglected his son’s torment and the potential for caste-based trauma.
After Arman Iqbal’s role in the unfortunate death of Darshan Solanki emerged, the leftist cabal that was lampooning on ‘caste discrimination’ theory went into hiding. Even the APPSC stopped discussing his suicide case and moved on to other issues for ‘caste baiting.’ In the end, it became clear that the untimely death of the 18-year-old boy was never their concern.
News