Stories
Congress Accuses Government of Hiding IIT Suicide Data, Demands Action for Marginalized Students
- •The Congress party alleges the government is concealing data on suicides at Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and questions its plans to address the crisis faced by marginalized students.
- •Congress general secretary K C Venugopal cited a media report indicating 53 student deaths at IITs between 2020-21 and 2024-25, with over half involving students from SC, ST, and OBC backgrounds.
- •Venugopal claims the Ministry provided a vague response to his parliamentary question in December 2025, deliberately excluding suicide-related data despite an Under Secretary's communication to IITs.
- •The Congress asserts that hiding this data makes the government complicit in creating an atmosphere that led to Sahil Wakode's death, a second-year B Tech student found dead at IIT Bombay.
- •Sahil's parents alleged he faced casteist slurs and humiliation, prompting demands for a thorough investigation and action against those responsible; IIT Bombay removed Suryanarayana Doolla as dean of Administrative Affairs following protests.
Key Questions Answered
The Congress party accused the government of deliberately hiding data on student suicides at Indian Institutes of Technology, noting that over half of these deaths involved students from marginalized Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Other Backward Classes backgrounds, while criticizing the administration for evading specific disclosures in Parliament.
Following protests by students and political activists over the alleged suicide of 22-year-old Sahil Wakode, IIT Bombay removed Suryanarayana Doolla from his position as the dean of Administrative Affairs, and a police case for abetment and caste discrimination was registered against him.
Sahil Wakode, a second-year BTech student at IIT Bombay, was found hanging in his hostel room on the Powai campus on September 18 after being caught allegedly using a mobile phone to access ChatGPT during a mid-semester exam. His parents claimed he faced casteist slurs and humiliation at the institute, prompting demands for a thorough investigation.
