23/09/2026
Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC IIT Bombay) statement
Condemn IIT Bombay admin’s student witch-hunt and manipulative use of its media interaction guidelines in Sahil Wakode's institutional murder case!
IIT Bombay’s administration has a long history of policing what piece of communication can travel outside the institute, particularly to the media. Guidelines, rules and at times, specifically customized codes are used to meet the institute’s interests of maintaining a certain reputation, even if it comes at the cost of curbing its students’, faculty and other employees’ freedom of speech.
While having had a very high-handed approach towards students merely voicing concerns regarding campus-related issues, the administration’s current conduct is in violation of its own ‘rules’. Statements and interviews with the media, both by the administration and certain faculty members declaring their fullest support for Professor Doolla, undermines the possibility of a fair legal investigation of the death of a student of our institute. Professor Doolla is, at this very moment, facing serious criminal charges of abetting the death of a 2nd year B.Tech student, Sahil Wakode.
Initially leaking statements to the media alleging the deceased student of cheating, then releasing an apology for the same communication, shows the hypocrisy of the IIT administration when it comes to dealing with actually sensitive issues. The apology stated that “In view of the ongoing investigation, it was inappropriate to have set out or characterised details relating to the events preceding his demise before they had been duly established through the appropriate investigative process.” As if this wasn't shameful enough, the Director, barely hours later in an open house, declared his full support, ‘be it financial, legal or emotional’ for Prof. Suryanarayana Doolla – the accused in the FIR filed by Sahil’s parents.
The IIT-B administration has thus proved once again that their ‘Rules and Regulations’ are only applicable selectively, and only in cases which are aligned to their own agendas. Disciplining students who speak up with suspensions, and disrupting their lives in the gravest ways possible, without taking into consideration the inevitable toll such actions take on their mental health, while supporting bodies like the Faculty Forum of IIT Bombay in their attempts of sabotaging an ongoing criminal investigation against an accused, is merely the latest instance of IIT-B administration’s manipulative use of its own ‘policies’.
APPSC condemns this arbitrary use of ‘Rules’ to the admin‘s behest and the resulting tampering of a fair trial for Sahil by Director Kedare.
APPSC Instagram account has been hacked and blocked. Please share this statement widely.
