Parents of IIT Bombay student begin hunger strike demanding justice for alleged caste abuse

Sahil Wakode, a 22-year-old second-year B.Tech student at IIT Bombay, was found dead by hanging in his hostel on September 18, hours after being caught using an AI platform during an exam. His parents, Ravindra and his wife, have started an indefinite hunger strike in Mumbai, demanding that those they accuse of torturing their son be jailed. They claim Sahil faced ongoing caste discrimination at the institute and have presented their grievances to Kishor Makwana, chair of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes.

Mumbai Police briefly detained Ravindra while he was on his way to the campus to begin the protest. The Crime Branch is probing the suicide, re-examining CCTV footage that shows Sahil with a mobile phone before an invigilator asked him to leave the hall, and investigating allegations of harassment and selective leakage of video evidence.