SC seeks report from police of three states on student suicides

On Monday, the court issued a notice on an application filed by the parent of a student who died in Kota in August 2023

Concerned about student suicides across the country, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the Rajasthan government to provide details of its investigation into two student deaths in Rajasthan’s Kota — the hub of coaching institutes — and separate responses from the states of Delhi and West Bengal into two separate suicide incidents at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi and Kharagpur.

SC seeks report from police of three states on student suicides

A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan passed the order while monitoring its earlier direction of March 24 constituting a national task force (NTF) headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and comprising experts from different fields to examine the causes behind student suicides on education campuses.

On Monday, the court issued a notice on an application filed by the parent of a student who died in Kota in August 2023. This is the second instance of unnatural death from Kota which the court has entertained.

The applicant was a resident of Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, who lost his 17-year-old son studying in one of the hostels provided by the coaching institute. The family alleged that police are not conducting a thorough probe into the death and have refused to probe the possible angle of murder of the student.

On May 13, the court had sought the state’s response on another such suicide death where the victim had studied in one of the coaching institutes there till November 2024. On May 23, expressing dissatisfaction over the probe, the bench had summoned the investigating officer of the case to court.

“The state of Rajasthan shall file its investigation pursuant to registration of FIR as per the May 23 order,” the bench said, posting the matter to July 21.

The investigating officer in the Kota suicide case was present in the court as directed on the previous date. While the state informed the court that a criminal case is registered and investigation is ongoing, the court wished to know the reason that drove the student to take such a measure.

The court noted that its judgment constituting the NTF requires authorities running all educational campuses to inform police about any student suicide. This judgment had come while examining a petition filed by the family members of two students who died by suicide on the IIT Delhi campus in 2023.

The court directed the Delhi Police provide information on the progress of investigation by Monday. It passed a similar order into a separate incident of death by suicide on IIT Kharagpur campus in May this year. After a delay of four days, an FIR was registered. On Monday, the court directed the West Bengal government to indicate the follow-up investigation pursuant to registration of case.

Senior advocate Aparna Bhatt assisting the court as amicus curiae told the court that the NTF constituted by the court is facing a major challenge getting information on student suicides from various states. She pointed out that the March 24 judgment is not being implemented in the country as 12 states have not responded with details about their nodal officer to NTF.

Looking into these concerns, the bench, on Bhatt’s request, directed the ministry of home affairs to be made an ex-officio member of the NTF, to facilitate real-time investigation details to the task force.

Bhatt further informed the court that since the judgment only speaks about suicides on campuses, police find a loophole not to register a case if the student takes the drastic step at home or even in a coaching institute hostel. “In Kota, children are not formally staying in these institutions,” she said, absolving the coaching institutes of the duty to report such cases.” In several states, police do not register FIRs claiming that the suicide did not take place on any campus,” she added.

The court agreed to examine this aspect on the next date by clarifying its judgment. The court also tightened states to report names of nodal officers in two weeks, failing which it warned of consequential orders to be passed against the chief secretary concerned.

The NTF is yet to submit its first preliminary report since the order of March 24. The task force has time till September to accomplish this task.