IIT-Madras cancels classes for a day following night-long protest after student’s suicide
A research student in the electrical engineering department allegedly died by suicide Sunday afternoon in a hostel room on the IIT-Madras campus. According to reliable sources, a second, unconnected suicide attempt was also reported on the campus Sunday.
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IIT-Madras Director Kamakoti Veezhinathan addressing the gathering on Monday morning after a night long protest of students. Following a night-long student protest against the callous handling of a student’s suicide and an attempted suicide by another student on the campus Sunday, IIT-Madras decided to cancel classes and academic work on Tuesday. The unusual decision to declare Tuesday a “non-instructional day” was made after the institute’s director Kamakoti Veezhinathan addressed the student gathering and promised to take action.
A second-year research student in the electrical engineering department allegedly died by suicide on Sunday afternoon in a hostel room on the campus. According to reliable sources, a second, unconnected suicide attempt was also reported on the campus Sunday. The student was rescued and is currently under treatment at a hospital in Chennai. It was the administration’s callous handling of the first student’s death that sparked the protest.
A student representative who did not wish to be identified told The Indian Express that the administration did not inform the elected student representatives about the death, and that they learnt of it through unofficial channels by late evening. “Suicides may have many reasons, but why would they deal with it in secrecy? What if we discover much later that a friend of ours passed away and his body was already returned home and cremated? We demanded the administration to not let a small group of people at the top management handle things secretly, student representatives or professors, at the very least, should be informed,” the student said.
After learning of the news around evening, students began marching from their hostels to Gajendra Circle at the centre of the campus where the administration building is located. Around 11.15 pm, as the crowd swelled, Nilesh J Vasa, the dean of students, informed everyone via email about the student’s death.
The students, however, chose to sit in protest in a bid to catch the attention of the dean and the director Veezhinathan and get an explanation for how they handled a student’s death. The protest started before midnight.
The students refused to follow dean Vasa’s instructions when he arrived after midnight. They demanded a response directly from the director. “We refused to return to our rooms even after the registrar arrived at 4 am. At around 7 am, director Veezhinathan showed up and promised to take necessary actions and steps.”
According to a senior IIT-Madras official, Veezhinathan spoke to the student gathering. “It was promised that the administration will host an open house meeting in ten days when all students can voice their views. Considering their feelings, we decided to grant leave for classes today (Tuesday),” the official said.
Even though the student protest began over the careless handling of the suicide incident and the lack of tact in notifying other students, it picked up steam after midnight as students began bringing up other unresolved issues as well.
According to a representative of IIT-Madras, the students asked the administration to create a panel of experts from outside to study the mental health of the students. Students requested that wardens and other officials visit hostel rooms to solve problems. They called for better amenities at the campus hospital and 24×7 operation of the campus pharmacy which closes early. Students also sought to address other complex issues as well as the excessive pressure in research projects, besides their relationship with guides.
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