IIIT Allahabad BTech student dies by suicide on birthday after video call with mother

The student took the extreme step on his birthday after talking to his mother on video call and messaging her around 12 midnight.

A hearing and speech-impaired BTech student of the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad (IIIT-A), died by suicide late Saturday night by jumping from the fifth floor of his hostel.

Students expressed their anger over the incident and blamed the institute administration. (File image)

The deceased, a first-year student of Information Technology, hailed from Nizamabad, Telangana.

The deceased had got admission in IIIT-A after securing 52nd rank in JEE. He took the extreme step on his birthday after talking to his mother on video call and messaging her around 12 midnight.

Hearing the commotion in the middle of the night, hostel students rushed to the spot. The institute administration immediately informed the police, who took custody of the body and sent it to Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital (SRNH) for post-mortem.

Peers blame institute admin

Students expressed their anger over the incident and blamed the institute administration. They claimed that the deceased had failed in six papers of the first semester which could have contributed to his distress. He had not been attending his classes for the past three months. However, they refrained from sharing further details.

According to Prof GC Nandi, director in-charge of the institute, a three-member committee comprising of Prof US Tiwary, Prof OP Vyas and Prof Pavan Chakraborty has been constituted to investigate the case. The committee will submit the report to the public within a week.

Prof Nandi informed that in a meeting of institute officials and academic staff, it was further recommended to constitute a fact-finding subcommittee with chairman (council of wardens), all wardens, senior faculty members, representative of students, representative of gymkhana as its members. In this committee, 50 percent of members will be from the student community, he added.

Further, considering the emotional turmoil faced by students, the need for creating a sympathetic and supportive environment, addressing allegations of faculty misbehaviour, improving communication channels particularly for other state students, prioritising mental health support and counselling services was also discussed.

At the meeting, a decision was taken to formally present the suggestions and recommendations of this meeting to director of the institute Prof Mukul Sharad Sutaone for further action after the latter returned from leave.

According to SHO Dhoomanganj, Amar Nath Rai, the incident occurred around 2 am. “Upon receiving information, the body was taken into custody and sent for post-mortem. The deceased’s family has arrived, and further investigation will determine the exact cause of the suicide,” he said.