Following the tragic loss of 31-year-old MSc Physics student, his brother has levelled serious allegations against the institute’s administration, accusing them of severe insensitivity and mistreatment during Rishikesh’s mental health crisis.
He further revealed that the insensitive behaviour extended to their family when they sought help or intervention. “IIT was not a college for him but a dream. He struggled so much to get into IIT,” the brother’s shared. However, the student was carrying deep personal grief alongside academic pressure. Following the loss of his father a few years ago, his mental health began to deteriorate significantly.
Expressing deep anguish over how the staff interacted with his mother, he recalled, “They insulted my mother also, saying ‘we look after 2000 students at a time and you cannot handle one student’.”
Holding the institution accountable for failing to safeguard a vulnerable student despite clear warning signs, the family is demanding strict institutional oversight and punitive measures against those involved. The development comes a day after hundreds of students gathered on the IIT Delhi campus and held a sit-in protest, demanding an inquiry into the death and raising concerns over existing student support systems. Meanwhile, IIT Delhi sources told ANI that the institute has constituted a five-member External Inquiry Committee to investigate the circumstances leading to the death of the 31-year-old MSc Physics student.
“We want action against teachers who are responsible for this,” Abhishek urged before delivering a poignant closing plea: “We send our kids to study, not to return as dead bodies.
The committee comprises former Uttarakhand Director General of Police Ashok Kumar (an IIT Delhi alumnus and current Vice-Chancellor of Sports University Haryana); Professor Pratap Sharma, Head of the Department of Psychiatry at AIIMS New Delhi; two student representatives; and the IIT Delhi Registrar, who will serve as the secretary and convener.
