IIT-Delhi students meet faculty members after suicide at hostel

IIT Delhi student representatives suggest "structural changes" after a student's suicide, including assigning marginalized students to hostels and introducing studies on caste and prejudice. The representatives also plan to boycott classes. The director of the institute expressed condolences and announced a condolence meeting. No reason for the suicide has been given.

A day after a B Tech student died by suicide on the IIT Delhi campus, student representatives met faculty members and suggested “structural changes”, ranging from assigning students from marginalised communities in hostels, to academic intervention such as introducing studies on caste and prejudice.

A B Tech student died by suicide on the IIT Delhi campus on Friday. (HT Archive)

They also said they would boycott classes on Monday.

In an email to students on Friday night, IIT Delhi director Rangan Banerjee informed students about the incident and expressed his condolences. He said that the was a Dalit. Banerjee said that the student’s family was informed about the incident. The director did not give any reason for the suicide.

The director also said that a condolence meeting would be held early next week. He added that students should not hesitate to reach out to the administration in seeking counselling.

When asked about the incident on Saturday, Banerjee said they were shaken by the tragedy and will not be speaking to journalists.

The student was pursuing B Tech in mathematics and computing and was part of the 2019-23 batch.

Shainal Verma, the student representative of the SC/ST cell at the institute, said, “We need to address the growing number of deaths among students from marginalised communities. We also need to engage with how academic pressure intersects with other issues, especially in the two recent cases as both belonged to marginalised communities.”

The death comes close on the heels of a string of suicides by both aspirants and students of top Indian colleges, spotlighting the pressures of higher education where problems of caste discrimination and extreme academic pressure spill over.

The group of 15 students on Saturday met three faculty members – Yashpal Jogdand from the Humanities and Social Sciences Department; Simona Sawhney from the Humanities and Social Sciences Department and Pravin P Ingole from the Chemistry Department.

A student, present in the meeting said, “We want student representatives from classrooms and hostels. We are thinking of door-to-door campaigning for this.”

The student added that they also want academic intervention, such as studies on prejudices, and on social structures, in order to sensitise students. The students put forth a need for teacher sensitisation workshops. As an “immediate measure”, students said that they will boycott classes, because “resuming business as usual would disregard of the two students”.

Senior police officers said the post-mortem examination has been conducted and the body handed over to family. No foul play has been found so far and no complaint has been received, police said.