Mumbai Police detains 25, including comedian Masoom Rajwani, over candle march for IIT Bombay suicide victim

Mumbai police detained at least 20 protesters on Sunday during a candlelight vigil at Chaityabhoomi in Dadar, a site dedicated to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. The demonstrators gathered to demand a thorough investigation into the death of Sahil Wakode, a student at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Authorities stated the assembly lacked necessary permissions and cited law and order maintenance as the reason for the detentions. Protesters countered these claims, alleging that officers used excessive force, specifically accusing them of manhandling women while removing participants from the premises. The detained individuals, which included stand-up comedian Masoom Rajwani, were released after 8:30 p.m. from police stations in Tardeo, Worli, and Dadar. Rajwani documented his arrest via a video posted on Instagram, depicting officers leading him away from the site. In accompanying text, he criticized the police conduct, stating that the detention of female protesters after 6 p.m. violated legal protections. He further alleged that officers tore the clothing of one woman and detained eight women in total, describing the actions as brutal. Wakode, a second-year Bachelor of Technology student, was found hanging in his hostel room on September 18. According to the institute, he was discovered using a mobile phone during a mid-semester examination that day. He was allegedly uploading questions to the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT to find answers. Professor Suryanarayan Doolla, who served as the invigilator, reported the incident to authorities. While the institute maintained that no disciplinary action followed, noting that faculty members counseled Wakode and assured him his academic career would not suffer, his family disputes this account. Ravindra Wakode, the student’s father, filed a complaint alleging that Doolla subjected his son to caste-based discrimination for three months prior to the incident. This harassment, according to the father, occurred on the instructions of IIT Bombay Director Professor Shireesh B. Kedare. The family claims Wakode was threatened with suspension following the exam incident. Based on this complaint, police registered cases against Doolla and unidentified associates for abetment to suicide and violations of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act. Director Kedare denied any involvement in caste discrimination, asserting that caste data for all students is concealed and inaccessible to staff. The institute’s cell for scheduled castes and tribes also stated in an email to students that it had received no complaints regarding discrimination from Wakode before his death. Despite these denials, the family continues to protest, recently staging demonstrations at Azad Maidan to pressure Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for intervention. The father has additionally requested a separate First Information Report regarding the alleged leakage of private telephone conversations and CCTV footage from the examination hall. He contends that sensitive investigative materials were selectively shared with media organizations. A ten-member panel appointed by the institute’s board of governors completed its review of the circumstances surrounding Wakode’s death on October 15. As of October 25, the findings of this report remained unpublished. Separately, police detained approximately 120 individuals at Shivaji Park during an unauthorized protest organized by a group identifying as Adivasi Gen Z, bringing the total number of arrests linked to the case to roughly 140.