The final report of the National Task Force (NTF) that the Supreme Court constituted in March 2025 to examine student suicides across India will be available by November, the court said on Tuesday, as it referred to the August 22 suicide of an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi scholar and called it unfortunate. The NTF submitted a status update, saying the final report will be completed by October 31 as per the court’s deadline.
In January, the court issued a slew of directions to ensure higher educational institutions (HEIs) are accountable for students’ mental well-being after the NTF submitted an interim report. The NTF recommended making it mandatory for every HEI to report suicide or unnatural death to the law enforcement agencies and provide round-the-clock medical help in residential campuses to prevent such incidents.
IIT Delhi students took to the streets demanding a fair investigation into the death and compensation for the student’s family. The court in January noted a gap, saying there is no mechanism for the implementation of guidelines of the University Grants Commission and the government on ragging, drug abuse, sexual harassment, accessibility, suicide prevention, and mental health. It ordered the National Crime Records Bureau to distinguish student suicides between school-going and higher education students.
Senior advocate Aparna Bhat, who represented the NTF and is assisting the court as amicus curiae, told the bench that the NTF visited IIT Delhi on August 27 and found that the 31-year-old student had mental health issues, citing interactions with students, faculty members, and administration staff. It used its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, which allows the court to pass orders to do complete justice, and directed all HEIs to maintain a registration system for the 15-29 age group. The NTF found that many institutions refused to allow students from disadvantaged groups to take exams or attend classes due to delays in scholarship disbursal. The court had directed HEIs not to bar any student from appearing in examinations or classes or deny any facility due to delays in scholarship disbursal.
