Mumbai- The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), a student collective at IIT Bombay, said in a statement today that “external casteist forces” are trying to silence its voice after the death of student Sahil Wakode. According to the collective, its Instagram account was hacked immediately after it released a statement on 22 September. “We will not be silenced. We will not stop,” the group said.

APPSC said its Instagram account was hacked right after it issued a statement on 22 September about the Wakode case. The collective said it understands there are forces seeking to contain a voice that has continuously spoken from marginalised points of view, and it condemned the hacking as casteist behaviour.

The group alleged that the IIT Bombay administration’s actions in “acute defence” after the death are responsible for “casteist goons” emerging in this space and hacking its account. It said these “savarna bastions” can only be sustained through violence against constitutional morality. APPSC told those responsible that it will fight “till victory is achieved over this casteist institute” and will “truly make these institutes anti-caste.”

According to the statement, the IIT Bombay campus was shattered on 18 September by the death of another Dalit student, Sahil Wakode. APPSC described it as an “institutional murder.” It said hundreds of students marched across campus the same day to demand accountability from the Director and from Prof. Suryanarayan Doolla.

APPSC said Prof. Doolla held the last “counselling” meeting with Wakode, in which he had allegedly intimidated the student. It added that Wakode’s parents have complained that the professor regularly harassed their son on the basis of caste.

Allegations about campus rules

The collective said rules and regulations inside the campus have become “as draconian as they can.” It cited the institute’s interim guidelines, which it says barred members from gathering on campus to read texts together, such as Annihilation of Caste and Why I Am Not a Hindu, in their study circle.

APPSC alleged that the administration intimidated its members, switched off lights while they read in public spaces, and filmed them without consent. It said all of this came with threats of suspension and serious damage to their careers.

The statement further claims that the same guidelines were used against two students whose media interviews were framed as violating institute rules. According to APPSC, they were punished heavily, with suspensions and permanent hostel expulsion, disrupting the life of another Dalit student and his family.

APPSC said that over the past 24 days the institute, in its own defence, has sent out faculty such as Prof. Pant and multiple students to the media. They have stated that there is absolutely no casteism on campus and that Prof. Doolla is not to be blamed for casteism.

According to the group, this contrast forces a comparison of how IIT Bombay applies its own rules and guidelines. “Are the guidelines bending if the institute wants to defend itself as a campus with no casteism in it?” the statement asks.

The collective said it will continue to release its views on how the administration handled Wakode’s case and its general approach to the sit-in student protests at the Justice Corner (main gate). It will also publish critical assessments of what has happened on campus in the past 24 days.

Background on APPSC

APPSC is an independent student collective at IIT Bombay, started in May 2015 by students who had been active in seeking justice for Aniket Ambhore. The group has also served as a platform to think, deliberate and discuss contemporary socio-political-economic issues in the light of Babasaheb Ambedkar, Jotirao Phule, Savitribai Phule and Periyar.

APPSC said it has worked since its inception on discourses around caste, especially how caste operates in higher educational institutions such as IITs, NITs and IIMs. It says it worked towards the creation of the institute’s SC/ST cell and continues to push for caste sensitisation courses such as “Caste 101.”

The group alleged that the institute has mostly cooperated “begrudgingly.” It says the SC/ST cell was eventually set up without a mandate, and that no caste sensitisation course exists yet, despite the many hours APPSC put into designing one with some faculty members appointed by IIT Bombay.

APPSC said that, through public discussions, readings and the RTIs it has filed over the years, it set up a blog called “Caste on Campus.” Its social media accounts became an important medium for keeping an account of statistics and key thoughts on how the state responds to casteism and whether it actively helps propagate it.

The collective named the Mission Mode Recruitment drive as one notable achievement of this account-keeping and regular updating. It says the drive followed a public discourse strongly set by APPSC, and that many IITs and IIMs, including IIT Bombay, were forced to follow reservation in hiring SC/ST faculty.

APPSC asked its readers to keep reading and engaging with it. “We will not be silenced. Our struggle will continue,” the statement said.

AIISCA calls for protest on 16 October

Meanwhile, the All India Independent Scheduled Castes Association (AIISCA) has called for a protest on 16 October at Azad Maidan, Mumbai, from 10:30 AM onwards, in solidarity with the parents of Sahil Wakode, who have been on a hunger strike for the past 11 days. AIISCA has appealed to civil society organisations, Ambedkarites, community members, political parties, activists and “justice-loving citizens” to join. AIISCA volunteer Deepali Salve said that when the group arrived at Azad Maidan to resume the hunger strike, they found “disturbing changes”: all the posters had been removed, including the main poster carrying the slogan “Manuwad ki chhati par Birsa, Phule, Ambedkar.” Noting that no one other than the police had come to the site on Saturday and Sunday, she asked whether it should be assumed that the police removed the posters.