Mumbai: While a large majority of students on the IIT-B campus decided to resume classes since Tuesday and classes returned to normal on Wednesday, a section of students is still planning to continue with the protest against the administration following the death by suicide last weekend of second-year BTech student Sahil Wakode.Students’ protests erupted on Friday night following news of Wakode’s death. After an open house with the institute administration on Monday evening, however, several students called off their protest.An IIT-Bombay professor on Wednesday put out a social media post which claimed that the energy science and engineering department from the institute has a written confession from Sahil Wakode. The confession was discussed in two faculty forum meetings, the post said.Sociology professor from the institute, Suryakant Waghmore, put out a message he received, which stated that the faculty forum head, Rajkumar Pant, purportedly mentioned in two meetings, one online and one offline, that the ESE department has a confession from the student. Another message, sent to him, was also posted, stating ‘the process of handling malpractice is overseen by the disciplinary action committee and the instructor has no business to talk or extract any confession’.The second post mentioned that a student is usually given two working days to submit a written response. Waghmore, who teaches sociology, did not endorse the institute’s faculty forum’s stand and has been vocal against the way the forum has handled the issue.A students’ collective on campus, Ambedkar-Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), issued a fresh statement on Wednesday evening alleging the campus has become increasingly hostile over the last couple of years, marked allegedly by deployment of militarised security, closure of common social spaces, and imposition of arbitrary and punitive measures, including fines, academic suspension, and removal of students from the hostel.The statement from the collective continued with their “unwavering stance” that Prof Suryanarayana Doolla, allegedly responsible for acting outside the formal code prescribed for exam invigilators, must resign from all teaching and administrative roles. The students also condemned the administration and the institute’s faculty forum for issuing statements that, they alleged, contained ‘false claims’ that no penalties, including expulsion or suspension, would be imposed on Sahil.In a statement issued on Tuesday, student representatives had sought to distance the recent campus protests from any suggestion that students were defending academic misconduct, saying their agitation was instead aimed at raising larger concerns about institutional systems, accountability and student welfare.Student representatives said that over the past few days, they had collectively drawn up a comprehensive set of demands. These were formally placed before the IITB director, who, they said, had acknowledged and signed them and agreed to work towards their implementation within specified timelines. They also welcomed an open-house meeting held with the director and other members of the administration.APPSC, however, claimed the students’ charter of demands was manipulated.
