Why so many students dying by suicide, SC asks IIT Kharagpur

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday expressed serious concern over death of students by suicides at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

"What is wrong with IIT Kharagpur? Why are students dying by suicide," a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan asked, while hearing a suo motu case concerning student suicides at IIT Kharagpur and Sharda University.

The court asked the institutes, as to whether they have given a thought to the issue.

On July 21, the court took suo motu cognisance of the matter.

On Monday, in response to the court's query, a counsel appearing for the IIT Kharagpur said that a 10-member committee has been constituted to deal with the issue. He further elaborated that there was a counselling centre, and they were identifying students facing mental health problems.

"They have given a phone number which can be called anytime," he said.

The court had earlier appointed senior advocate Aparna Bhatt as amicus curiae and asked her to provide detailed information in the matter.

During the hearing, the lawyer for IIT Kharagpur and Sharda University informed the Supreme Court that FIRs have been lodged in connection with both the incidents.

After being apprised of these facts, the court said, it will not make any further observations and clarified that the probe can continue in the case.

"We are informed that FIR was lodged by the father of the deceased in the incident at Sharda University and the investigation is in progress. Let it proceed in accordance with law," the bench said.

With regard to the incident at IIT Kharagpur, the bench said, "We were informed that within 30 minutes, the management learned of the suicide, and lodged a complaint in the police station. The investigation in this regard is also in progress. Let the investigation continue in the right direction."

The court fixed the matter for hearing after four weeks.

When a lawyer told the judges that a student died by suicide at IIT Delhi on June 4 but an FIR has yet not been registered, the court directed the amicus to take up the issue and act accordingly.

In Sharda University student suicide case, the body of the girl was shifted by university staff even before police came. As per police officials, since multiple people left fingerprints, crime scene got compromised, Bhatt told the court.

Similarly, in the IIT Kharagpur case, she was informed by varsity's Registrar that though a post mortem was conducted, details weren't known yet.

Ritam Mandal, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student of IIT Kharagpur allegedly died by suicide on July 18. She was a resident of Kolkata and was studying in a five-year dual degree programme. This was the fourth such case in the IIT Kharagpur campus since January this year.

Jyoti Sharma, a second-year BDS student, allegedly died by suicide in the hostel of Sharda University located in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida.

The court had earlier said that "something is wrong".

On July 25, the Supreme Court had issued 15 pan-India guidelines to tackle the rise in suicides, by directing heightened mental health care among students in educational institutions.