Mumbai Police detained the parents of IIT Bombay student Sahil Wakode and several students and protesters on Sunday as demonstrations demanding justice for the 20-year-old continued on the institute’s campus.
Ravindra and Sonali Wakode were taken to Azad Maidan, according to media reports. Police also detained students protesting inside the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay campus in Powai, while other demonstrators gathered outside the main gate. The reported number of students detained varied across accounts.
The detentions came a month after Sahil, a second-year BTech student, was found dead in his hostel room on September 18. His parents have been on a hunger strike at Azad Maidan for more than two weeks, demanding accountability and action in the case.
The family has sought the arrest of Professor Suryanarayana Doolla, who was named in a police complaint related to Sahil’s death. The complaint invokes provisions concerning abetment of suicide and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The protests have also raised concerns about alleged caste discrimination and the need for an impartial investigation into the circumstances surrounding Sahil’s death. His parents have sought a meeting with the head of the institute’s Board of Governors and said the institute’s internal inquiry committee had not contacted them.