Telangana student dies by suicide in IIT-Kharagpur

Kharagpur: A fourth-year electrical engineering student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur has allegedly died by suicide. Students of the institute found the boy hanging in one of the halls of the college.

He was immediately taken to hospital but died there. The 22-year-old student K Kiran Chandra was a native of Toopran, Medak district in Telangana. Sources in police say that prima facie it seems to be suicide, but the actual cause will be ascertained after post-mortem.

"With a sense of utter shock, the students, staff and faculty members of IIT Kharagpur deeply mourn the sudden demise of K Kiran Chandra, a 4th year dual degree student in the Department of Electrical Engineering," IIT Kharagpur said in a statement. The institute said Chandra stayed at the Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Hall of Residence and he died by suicide on Tuesday night.

"Till about 7:30 pm, Chandra was with two of his roommates in their hostel room. Later, the other two students left for academic activities. Subsequently, around 8.30 pm, fellow boarders of the LBS Hall found his room locked from inside. The door was forced open... Despite all efforts by doctors, Chandra was declared dead around 11:30 pm," IIT Kharagpur said in the statement.

Student suicide cases have seen a rise in the past few years with IITs having reported the highest number of student suicide cases in the last five years.

According to data shared by the education ministry, from 2018 to 2023, at least 39 out of a total of 98 deaths by suicide in top higher education institutions of India took place at the IITs, followed by 25 each at the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and centrally-funded universities. Another 13 such deaths were reported from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) from 2019 till date.

As per the data shared by Minister of State Subhas Sarkar, in response to a question in the upper house of parliament, showed that 98 deaths were reported from IITs, NITs, IIMs and central universities (under UGC) between 2018 and 2023. Some of the causes behind the student suicide cases included academic stress, family reasons, personal reasons, mental health issues, etc, Sarkar had said.

Not just IITs, there has been has increase in the number of student suicide cases in the coaching hub of the country — Kota as well with around 26 cases being reported this year. Education minister Pradhan had told that no lives should be lost and the centre is taking initiatives to ensure that coaching is not required and school education is enough. “It is a very sensitive issue. No lives should be lost..they are our kids. They do not even have maturity or knowledge about what is happening to them. It is our collective responsibility to keep students stress-free,” he had said.

If you need support, please reach out to the following helpline numbers: Call- 9152987821, AASRA-9820466726, Roshni Trust- 040-66202000.