Mumbai: The recent suicide of a student at IIT Kanpur has once again drawn attention to the growing mental health crisis on campuses of India’s premier technical institutions, where more than a dozen students on average have died by suicide each year over the past five years.
Data compiled by the Global IIT Alumni Support Group shows that at least 65 students died by suicide across the Indian Institutes of Technology between January 2021 and December 2025. Of these, 30 cases were reported in just the last two years, raising serious questions about institutional responsibility and accountability. The deaths span undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes, and are often followed by official statements attributing the incidents to “personal” or “academic” stress.
Students and alumni argue that such explanations oversimplify a far more complex reality. They point to relentless academic pressure, intense competition, social isolation, and in some cases caste- or language-based exclusion as contributing factors. Some faculty members, speaking privately, admit that early warning signs are frequently missed and that support systems tend to intervene only when distress has reached a critical level.
The situation at IITs reflects a broader national concern. According to NCRB data, India recorded over 13,000 student suicides in 2023 — an average of about 36 every day.
Calls for accountability at IIT Kanpur
Dheeraj Singh, an IIT Kanpur alumnus (2004 batch) and founder of the Global IIT Alumni Support Group, has called for accountability at the highest levels, noting that the Supreme Court has formed a task force to address student mental health and prevent suicides. He cited the court’s observation that mental health is an integral part of the Right to Life under Article 21, and referred to the Saha vs State of Andhra Pradesh case, which established student mental health as a constitutional and institutional responsibility.
Singh expressed concern that this was the ninth suicide reported at IIT Kanpur in the past two years and urged the education ministry to hold the institute’s director accountable. He suggested that leadership changes may be necessary to improve the situation on campus.
According to Singh, IIT Kanpur accounts for about 30% of all suicide deaths reported across IITs over the last two years — the highest among the 23 IITs. IIT Kharagpur follows with seven cases during the same period. In contrast, he noted that IIT Bombay reported only one suicide despite having a larger student population than IIT Kanpur.
