2nd-year student found hanging at IIT-M hostel; fourth suspected suicide in 3 months

Kotturpuram police have registered a case, and the necessary medical procedures were being carried out on Friday evening. The body would be subsequently handed over to the family, police said.

IIT-Madras has seen multiple cases of student deaths in recent months, the most recent being reported on March 31, when a research scholar was found dead. The suspected suicide prompted the IIT-Madras administration to bar a professor from visiting the department’s laboratory due to allegations of his involvement in the incident. The action against the professor came after the deceased student’s brother wrote a six-page letter to IIT-Madras director, Prof V Kamakoti, accusing the guide of exerting “undue pressure” on his sibling and frequently reprimanding him, despite being aware of his ongoing mental health treatment.

Two more deaths were reported in February and March this year, the victims being a second-year MSc student from Maharashtra and a 20-year-old student. Earlier, in September 2022, a 21-year-old student died by suicide, police had said.

Earlier this month, the Union Ministry of Education had informed the Rajya Sabha during the second leg of the Budget Session that 33 students have died by suicide across the IITs since 2018. In all, the IITs, National Institutes of Technology and the IIMs registered 61 suicide cases during 2018-2023, for which data was presented. The IITs account for over half of these suicides, followed by the NITs (24) and IIMs (4).

“Academic stress, family reasons, personal reasons, mental health issues, etc. are some of the reasons for such suicide cases,” according to the written response by Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar.

Amid this growing concerns over student deaths by suicide, the IIT Council had decided to appoint at least one mental health counsellor on every campus.