New Delhi, Aug. 31 -- The week-long protest at IIT Delhi over the death of 31-year-old MSc Physics student Rishikesh Kumar has raised a question that extends beyond one campus: can India's premier institutions recognise distress before it becomes a crisis?
Kumar allegedly died by suicide on August 22. Students began protesting two days later, seeking an external inquiry, accountability and changes in student welfare mechanisms. The institute initially constituted an external committee, but after students objected to its composition, it agreed to reconstitute it, with retired Delhi High Court judge Justice Mukta Gupta appointed to head the panel.
The protest has since exposed a wider fault line between students and administration. Students have alleged academic and hostel-related difficulties faced by Kumar. The institute, meanwhile, has warned of disciplinary action over alleged disruption of residential and academic spaces allegations protesters have rejected.
For students, the issue is not merely about an inquiry.
"I feel that the administration should listen to the students. Their demands and recommendations on how such incidents can be prevented in future must be heard," said Manish Chaurasia, a Delhi University student. The concern gains urgency against the national suicide data. According to NCRB's Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India reports, 14,488 students died by suicide in 2024, up from 13,892 in 2023 and 13,044 in 2022. The figure was 13,089 in 2021 and 12,526 in 2020 representing a sharp rise over five years.
The numbers sit uneasily beside the growing institutional machinery for student welfare. The Education Ministry has issued guidelines on emotional and mental well-being in higher education, while UGC advisories call for safeguards against academic and peer pressure, stronger grievance redressal and student support networks.
Yet students say implementation remains the larger question.
"Getting into institutions like IITs and IIMs is extremely difficult. But if students are still dying after reaching these institutions, we have to ask whether we are preparing them only academically, or also protecting their mental well-being," said Aditi, an IIT Delhi student.
The IIT Delhi protest has paused amid movement on students' demands. But the harder test begins now: whether institutions can turn committees, counselling centres and guidelines into systems that students can actually trust before a crisis becomes irreversible.
IIT Delhi Director Rangan Banerjee said the External Inquiry Committee had begun work, financial aid for Rishikesh Kumar's family was approved and an External Ombudsperson would be appointed.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.