Earlier, the Supreme Court had ordered the setting up of a National Task Force (NTF), headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat, to deal with mental health issues of students and to work on preventing suicides in higher education institutions.
New Delhi – 6th May: The Supreme Court of India has taken serious note of two recent student suicides – one at IIT Kharagpur in West Bengal and another in Kota, Rajasthan – and asked whether FIRs (First Information Reports) have been filed in both cases.
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On Tuesday, a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan directed the court registry to collect a report from the local police and college administration at both places as soon as possible.
The top court was informed that on May 4, 2025, a 22-year-old civil engineering student at IIT Kharagpur, Mohammad Asif Qamar from Sheohar district in Bihar, was found dead in his hostel room.
“The deceased was a three-year civil engineering student. His body was found hanging in his room in the Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall. The student was identified as Mohammad Asif Qamar from Bihar’s Sheohar District,” the bench noted.
The bench also said:
“The press reporting indicates that just moments before his death, he was on a video call with his friend in Delhi. This is one of those unfortunate suicides by a student for which we have constituted the task-force to work on the various issues relating to students suicide.”
Earlier, the Supreme Court had ordered the setting up of a National Task Force (NTF), headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat, to deal with mental health issues of students and to work on preventing suicides in higher education institutions.
In this latest hearing, the top court said it is looking into the matter to check whether IIT Kharagpur’s management followed its past directions and filed an FIR with the local police.
The court also highlighted another tragic suicide case in Kota, where a female NEET aspirant, reportedly under 18 years of age, took her own life in her room in the Parshavanath area just before the NEET-UG 2025 exam scheduled for May 11.
“It is reported that the girl was under 18 years of age and hailed from Sheopur in Madhya Pradesh. She had been living with her parents in Kota and for the past several years, she was preparing for NEET-UG at a coaching institute,” the court added.
The court noted that this case marked the 14th student suicide in Kota in 2025 alone.
“Since January, 2025, a total of 17 cases of suicides by coaching students were reported in Kota last year. We would like to know whether an FIR has been registered in connection with this suicide also or not,” the bench said.
The court scheduled the matter for further hearing on May 13.
This isn’t the first time the top court has intervened in student suicide cases. On March 24, the Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the suicides of two IIT-Delhi students belonging to the SC/ST community, and ordered Delhi Police to register an FIR and start a full investigation.
At that time, the court had strongly remarked that:
“High time” that it took cognisance of the “serious issue”.
It had also directed the Centre to come up with comprehensive and effective guidelines to understand and prevent the root causes that push students into such despair.
Additionally, the Centre was asked to deposit Rs.20 lakh with the Supreme Court registry within two weeks to begin the initial work of the National Task Force (NTF).
Finally, the top court reiterated its concern about the increasing number of student suicides across India’s educational institutions.
“Disturbing pattern” of student suicides were being reported from various educational institutes.
These tragedies underscored the urgent need for a more robust, comprehensive and responsive mechanism to address various factors which compel students to resort to taking their own lives.
Case Name: Amit Kumar & Ors. vs. Union of India & Ors.
