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New Delhi: On October 19, 2015, 22-year old Rahul G Prasad hanged himself in his room in Ganga Hostel at IIT Madras. He was a B.Tech student and hailed from Kollam, Kerala. Less than a month ago, another student called N Nagendra Kumar Reddy had also committed suicide on September 21. No suicide notes were found in both the cases.

In the last five years, IIT Madras has witnessed 10 such suicide cases. Some professors think that suicide cases have increased because of the increase in the influx of students at the institute has resulted in alienation of those from weaker backgrounds.  The academic environment at the institute is quite tough as some of the students are quite competitive and faculty is also becoming increasingly ambitious. But the pressure on students of IIT-M to succeed becomes too much for some of the students to bear.

The police says that there are rumours that Rahul might have been depressed due to a failed relationship. Another news from the grapevine states that he was anxious about his placements. With no suicide note in sight, no one will ever know the true reason of his suicide.

One of the Rahul’s teachers said, “He was a bright student but he had a few papers to clear.” An MA student revealed, “General character of students and first generation learners from Dalit backgrounds or from poor families do not mingle well at the institute. Even many teachers avoid helping such students and prefer to encourage the best ones. This leads to alienation of students from the weaker sections making them more fragile.”

Mitr, a Guidance and Counselling Unit (GCU) of IIT Madras, is already offering counselling services to students with curriculum-related or personal problems. The Director Bhaskar Ramamurthi said that Mitr is playing a significant role in addressing issues of students. Despite the frequent suicide cases, he insists that the institute has an effective suicide prevention mechanism and that psychiatric help is available at the campus hospital.

What was more shocking than the suicide was the lackadaisical attitude of the IIT Madras! The administration chose to keep silent about it as it was busy preparing for Saraswati Puja. Students have expressed dismay on Facebook over disturbing silence in the institute at the tragic end of one of its students.

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