On 19th January 2024, following three student suicides, students gathered in protest at the L20 foyer. They asked for accountability and submitted a list of demands to the administration.

Two years later, on 20th January 2026, students gathered again, this time following the death of Mr. Ramswroop Ishram, a PhD scholar in the Department of Earth Sciences.

In the 24 months between these two incidents, nine lives have been lost to suicide at IITK.

In December 2025, the Institute Counselling Service (ICS) “underwent a functional expansion” to form the Centre for Mental Health and Well-being (CMHW). Despite these structural changes, the recurrence of these incidents has raised serious questions among students about whether institutional responses have translated into meaningful, preventive support.

Account of 20th January 2026

At, 5:29 PM the campus community was jolted by a communique about the death of Mr. Ramswroop Ishram, a PhD student in the department of Earth Sciences.

At 7:03 PM the President, Students’ Gymkhana, sent a mail calling for solidarity and students gathered at SBRA for a candlelight vigil. They later marched to the OAT for a General Body Meeting (GBM), and students gathered to seek clarity and raise concerns about mental health support on campus at the OAT.

During the General Body Meeting, students expressed concern over the absence of any administrative representative and asked why no official was present to engage with the gathering. Following this, Mr. Ayan Gupta, President of Students’ Gymkhana contacted Dr. Alok Bajpai, Head of the Clinical Wing at CMHW, who informed him that he was at his residence in Kanpur city at the time.

Separately, Mr. Aniket Gupta, UG Student Coordinator at CMHW, and Mr. Ayan contacted Prof. Sudhanshu Sekhar, Head of the Administrative Wing at CMHW, who indicated that he was unavailable to attend. Subsequently, Mr. Ayan contacted the Dean of Student Affairs (DoSA)

According to first-hand accounts, students disappointed by the DoSA’s unavailability at the GBM, marched towards the DoSA’s residence to voice their concerns and seek clarity.

At around 9:30 PM, the DOSA addresses the crowd outside his residence and a discussion with the general body ensued.

What Students Asked For

on accountability 

Students demanded clearer institutional accountability in handling past mental health crises and student deaths. They called for a final report on previous suicide cases to be shared with the student body to prevent misinformation and stigma.

They also requested that the Dean of Students’ Affairs engage with the Director regarding the role of counselling services and possible institutional negligence.

Additionally, students demanded defined timelines for institutional responses to previous cases, redressal of harassment complaints against faculty, and release of action-taken reports following critical incidents.

They further called for strong action against individuals found guilty of wrongdoing, irrespective of their position, to restore student confidence in the administration.

on the doctoral montioring comittee

The Doctoral Monitoring Committee (DMC),  designed to track PhD progress, was identified as a source of stress rather than support. Students demanded that,

• The DMC professors shall be selected in agreement with the students.
• The DMC should have the power to overrule the advisor’s decision.
• The reason for ‘X’ in thesis credits and the DMC report needs to be made available to the students as well.
• Professors with a history of giving X grades should be questioned and held accountable.

on systemic reform

Students demanded that,

• A audit of the CMHW to be conducted by external members in accordance with the Mental Health Act, 2017.
• Counsellors need to be positioned at hall level proximity with weekly visiting hours and efforts need to be made to make the counselling better and more accessible, including expansion of counsellors/psychiatrists at the institute.
• HRA policy needs to be revised for students living in crunch or with extreme medical and family requirements.
• Implementation of a progress tracking dashboard to keep a real time view of the progress of experiments, paper submission etc. and can be utilised by DMC/institute bodies to keep track of both students and advisors.

on administration

Students demanded for,

• A review of student-affairs deans, arguing that those with records of serious student complaints should not occupy student-facing administrative roles.
• Proposed mandatory psychological and background screening for faculty members.
• The installation of information posters and support resources in hall premises, including details of the Ombuds Group, CMHW, and indicators of stress. They also requested that the Dean of Students’ Affairs formally circulate information about these redressal mechanisms at least once every semester to ensure new students are adequately informed.

The meeting concluded with the resolution to conduct a students’ senate meet to be held at the OAT, to further discuss and refine the list of demands, and a promise from the DOSA’s side to conduct an Open house with the Director, all Deans, heads CMHW and Chair SPO in attendance on the 24th of January 2026.

In Memory 

Mr. Ramswroop Ishram

Mr. Jai Singh Meena

Mr. Dheeraj Saini

Mr. Deepak Chowdhary

Mr. Ankit Yadav

Ms. Pragati Kharya

Ms. Priyanka Jaiswal

Mr. Vikas Kumar Meena

Dr. Pallavi Chilka

———

If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out:

CMHW – 0512-259-7784 [counselor@iitk.ac.in]

SIS Control Room: 0512-259-7999

Security Office: 0512-259-7272|7254

Police Chowki (IITK) : 0512-259-7309

Health Center: 0512-259-7222

Researched By – Pratyush Sandhwar, Anandan, Suahni Joshi, Saurya Singh, Akash Baudh

Edited By – Harsh Ashok, Manya Dixit, Amoghsiddhu N

The research done for the data mentioned can be accessed here.