An overnight protest broke out at IIT Bombay after a second-year student died by suicide following an incident during an examination, with students demanding accountability, an independent inquiry and stronger mental-health support on campus.
The student’s parents, who travelled from Yavatmal to the Powai campus on Saturday, described the death as a case of casteism and “institutional torture”, according to the family’s claims reported by Times of India. They sought a CID inquiry and action against institute officials whom they held responsible for their son’s death.
The student had been caught with a mobile phone during an examination on Friday. Students alleged that he was threatened with suspension. IIT Bombay, however, said in a statement issued on Friday night that no disciplinary action had been initiated against him.
“The matter was also discussed with the student by the instructor and the head of the department, who counselled him and assured him that the incident would not adversely affect his academic career,” the institute said in its statement.
The institute postponed the mid-semester examinations scheduled for Saturday. Powai police filed an accidental death report, while the circumstances surrounding the death remained the subject of demands for an independent investigation by students and the student’s family.
The institute director, Shireesh Kedare, met students in the convocation hall during the early hours of Saturday. Students nevertheless continued their protest near the main gate, with demonstrations extending through the night. Campus residents were also scheduled to hold a candlelight march later in the day.
The protesting students demanded the resignation of the director, the dean of student affairs and the examination invigilator who was on duty in the student’s class. They also sought an institutional task force to address the incident and an independent inquiry into the last four student suicides at the institute, with public disclosure of its findings.
Other demands included compulsory mental-health sensitisation workshops for professors and measures to improve the functioning and accessibility of the institute’s wellness centres. These demands place the immediate incident within a wider campus concern about how academic discipline, student support systems and institutional accountability are handled after a student reaches a crisis point.
The protest was continuing on Saturday, while the police accidental death report, the institute’s statement and the family’s demand for a CID inquiry represented separate parts of the response to the death. Further action was expected to depend on the police process, the institute’s decisions and whether an independent inquiry is ordered.
