A third-year BTech student at IIT Guwahati was found dead in his hostel room on Monday, leading to widespread protests by students on the campus. This is the second student death at the institute in the past month. The deceased was a 21-year-old student from Uttar Pradesh enrolled in the Computer Science and Engineering program.
IIT Guwahati Student Protests
The police were informed on Monday morning that the student was dead and his body has been taken for post-mortem. The circumstances that led to his death still remain unknown.
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The authorities of the IIT Guwahati stated that the institution fully cooperates with the police in their probe on the circumstances connected with this sad incident The management of IIT Guwahati also emphasized the fact that the institute is committed to ensuring safety of all students.
After the incident, the protestors got back to the administrative building where sympathetic students estimated that hundreds of students marched to demand that academic stress might have caused the death of a fellow student. The protesting students vowed for more demonstrations and one of them said, “There is a lot of anger among us because this is the second death within the span of one month.We would like the deans and directors to come and engage with us.”
Some students said that the deceased had flunked a course in winter term because of poor attendance that also barred him from interning. This they say could have caused distress to the student in question.
Another protester complained, “When the last student death happened the administration never owned up to it and we only discovered it from other sources.”
The administration said that IIT Guwahati continues to offer commitment to the wellbeing of its learners, which includes mental health. It stated that there are continued counseling services meaning that after the students have been in class, they can still be able to meet the counselors for further consultations.
Only a month back a 23-year-old MTech student from Uttar Pradesh also met the same fate and was found dead in her hostel room on August 9. Just a month back in April a 20 year old, a BTech student from Bihar was found dead hanging which was believed to be a case of suicide.
These recent incidents have raised serious concerns among students about mental health and the pressures of academic life at the institution.
