“Why So Much Stress”: Father Questions IIT After Student Dies By Suicide

A student died by suicide at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur on Wednesday, again bringing the limelight on the academic pressure at India’s premium engineering institute.

K Kiran Chandra, a fourth-year student of electrical engineering, was found hanging in his hostel room, the institute said in a statement.

His father, K Chander, claimed that Chandra was under a lot of pressure, “Why is there so much stress? Why is our kid being made to suffer so much at IIT,” his father told the media.

He also said that he does not think his son was ragged, but was under a lot of stress due to the academics.

IIT 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.

A police investigation has been launched into the case.

A year ago, the decomposed body of a third-year student Faizan Ahmed of IIT Kharagpur, who hailed from Assam, was found in his hostel room on October 14.

While IIT Kharagpur had said that Faizan had committed suicide, the body was exhumed following a directive by the Calcutta High Court, and a second post-mortem was done. The family claimed he was murdered on the campus and accused the institute of trying to hush up the matter.