A student of IIT Bombay committed suicide and since then there is continuous controversy. The reason for suicide has not been revealed yet, but the family of the deceased student is alleging that their son was discriminated against on the basis of caste in the institute, due to which he was upset. The institute said that the student was copying in the paper from the phone, after which it was explained to him. The investigation into this entire matter is still going on but in the meantime two issues have caught everyone's attention. The first issue is the increasing cases of suicide of students in institutions like IITs. The second issue is discrimination against students on the basis of caste.
In the report of Hindustan Times, a big revelation has come to light amid the ongoing debate on social media. This report states that at least 53 students died in IITs across the country between 2020-21 and 2024-25. Of these, 45 deaths were recorded as suicide, while eight cases were listed as other unnatural deaths. The special thing is that among the dead students, 54.7 percent i.e. 29 students were from SC, ST and OBC communities. This information has come out in the official data provided by the IITs to the Ministry of Education.
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The number of deaths increased continuously
According to data from IITs sent to the Education Ministry, five student deaths were recorded in 2020-21. This was followed by six deaths each in 2021-22 and 2022-23. The figure suddenly increased to 17 in 2023-24 and 19 in 2024-25. This means that out of total 53 deaths in five years, 36 deaths have occurred in the last two years only. The share of suicide in total deaths has been about 84.9 percent which is continuously increasing the concern. Of the 19 deaths recorded in 2024-25, six have been categorized as unnatural deaths.
Data of SC, ST and OBC students
In the case of Sahil's suicide in IIT Bombay, the family is alleging caste harassment and there is a debate on social media regarding this. In such a situation, the data related to the deaths of SC, ST and OBC students becomes even more important. According to Hindustar Times report, 23 deaths were of general category students. The deaths of 12 students from OBC category, 10 from SC category, seven from ST category and one from EWS category were recorded. In this way, there were 29 deaths including SC, ST and OBC categories, i.e. 54.7 percent of the total.
However, in the Hindustan Times report itself, these figures have been stated as the admission ratio of SC, ST and OBC. Of the 23 dead students of the general category, seven deaths have been recorded as unnatural deaths. In contrast, all 12 OBC cases and all seven ST cases were recorded as suicides. Of the 10 cases in the SC category, nine were suicides. One case of EWS was also recorded as suicide. The death toll is in proportion to the admission but in case of suicide, the number of children from SC, ST and OBC categories is more. However, these figures cannot be directly linked to caste discrimination in institutions. Due to the pressure of studies in institutes like IIT, cases of suicide of students are continuously increasing.
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Cases are continuously increasing
The cases of suicide of students are increasing continuously not only in IITs but also in other educational institutions of the country. There is concern across the country regarding these cases and efforts are also being made to reduce them. The number of student deaths in IITs increased significantly in 2023-24 and 2024-25 compared to the previous three years. These figures are constantly scaring and institutions are not succeeding in reducing them.