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Congress MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani on Thursday demanded probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the death of a student of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay to find out whether it was a case of murder, caste discrimination or ragging. After meeting the Ahmedabad-based family members of Darshan Solanki (18), who allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the seventh floor of a IIT hostel building on Sunday, Mevani said the Dalit community suspects it to be a case of murder, caste discrimination or ragging. The Congress leader from Gujarat said the Dalit community has given a call for a nationwide candle march on February 19 in support of Solanki, who was a first-year student of BTech (chemical) course. A Mumbai Police team visited Solanki's house here on Thursday to record the statements of his family members in connection with his death. Mevani said, "Darshan's father Ramesh Solanki told me that he was not even allowed to see the face of his dead son when
Six men were arrested on Thursday in connection with the alleged rape and murder of two teenage Dalit sisters who were found hanging from a tree in sugarcane field here, police said. The girls' burial took place in a field near their home as their community buries the dead rather than carrying out the cremation if they are children. For several hours their family members had refused to carry out the last rites, demanding compensation and the "death sentence" to the six accused. After several hours of persuasion, they agreed. Police sources said the post-mortem report revealed that the girls, aged 15 and 17, were raped and then strangled. The bodies were found hanging about a kilometre away from their home on Wednesday. The Opposition has slammed the state's BJP-led government over law and order, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday saying, "Women's safety cannot be expected from those facilitating the release of rapists and welcoming them." The former Congress chief was .
The Kerala government on Friday moved the High Court seeking to set aside a sessions court order granting bail to social activist and writer 'Civic' Chandran in a case of sexually abusing a Dalit woman, contending that the judgement of the lower court "suffers from illegality and manifest errors" warranting its intervention. While granting bail to Chandran in the case, Kozhikode Sessions Court judge S Krishnakumar, in his order dated August 2, had observed that the accused is a reformist, and against the caste system and it is highly unbelievable that he will touch the body of the victim fully knowing that she belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC). Observing that the accused is fighting against the caste system and is involved in a number of agitations, the court had also said the offences under various sections of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act will not prima facie stand against him. In its appeal, the state government contended that the order passed by the sessions court is ..