IIT Madras student suicide case: Students hold protest, seek 'action' against Phd Supervisor
Apr 13, 2023
Velachery (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 13 : Students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras on Wednesday night held a protest on the campus seeking justice for Sachin Kumar Jain, a PhD student, who died allegedly by suicide on March 31.
They also demanded action against Sachins' guide, Ashish Kumar Sen, holding him responsible for his death. "Action should be taken against his guide," they demanded.
A PhD student of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, died by suicide in his room in Tamil Nadu's Velachery on March 31, police said earlier. This is the third incident of suicide reported from IIT Madras this year and the 11th case since 2018.
Nilesh, IIT Madras Student said, "Sachin committed suicide due to the pressure exerted by his guide. An inquiry committee headed by a judge, human rights organization and some external committee should be set up to investigate the suicide of such students since we feel the IIT administration is trying to hide many things".
Earlier on March 31, PhD Student of Madras IIT Sachin Kumar Jain (32), a native of West Bengal died by allegedly committing suicide in his Velachery room. According to Vellachery police officials, "On March 31, Sachin posted a WhatsApp status 'I am Sorry Not good Enough'. Seeing the status his friends reached his home and found Sachin Kumar Jain hanging. An ambulance was called and he was pronounced dead on examination".
Velachery Police registered a case on this and more investigation is going on.
Earlier, IIT issued a statement expressing deep anguish over the incident, "We are deeply anguished to convey the untimely passing away of a PhD Research scholar from the Mechanical Engineering Department on the afternoon of 31st March 2023 at his residence at Velachery, Chennai. A student with an exemplary academic and research record is a big loss to the research community. The Institute expresses its heartfelt condolences and shares the grief of the friends and family of the deceased student. The Institute requests everyone respect the privacy of the student's family at this difficult juncture. May the departed soul rest in peace".
Earlier on March 14, a third-year BTech student died by suicide (hanging) at the Madras IIT Campus. The deceased was identified as Vaipu Pushpak Sree Sai (20), a native of Andhra Pradesh.
While on February 14, a research scholar from Maharashtra hanged himself in a room inside the IIT campus.
