IIT-B student kills self over low marks

Siddharth Charan, a student of IIT-Bombay, shot himself on Thursday morning at his home in Jodhpur because he was disappointed about his scores in a recent exam.

Siddharth Charan, a student of IIT-Bombay, shot himself on Thursday morning at his home in Jodhpur because he was disappointed about his scores in a recent exam.

The competitive IITs, that house some of the best minds in the country, have seen several suicides because of academic pressure and student expectations.

Three IIT-B students committed suicide during 2005-07 for similar reasons.

The second year physics student was already depressed because he lost a close cousin to cancer a few months ago.

The 18-year-old, who faculty say was an average student, wrote in his suicide note that he was disillusioned and that despite all his hard work he had not scored as well as he expected and his friends had done better than him.

“The student was already depressed over his brother but the primary reason for the suicide was because he had not fared well in his recent exams,” said Dinesh Singh, the officer in charge at the Mahamandir police station in Jodhpur.

In his note he philosophised that all that comes will go and nothing is dependable in life and hard work is never rewarded, said Singh.

Faculty say that the student’s behaviour did not show that there was a cause of worry.

“His roommate had spoken to him yesterday and he sounded fine,” said Prakash Gopalan, dean, student welfare, IIT-B.

“We will have counselling session for his friends and batchmates and will ensure the campus handles it well,” Gopalan added.