IIT Delhi Students Death: High Court Urges Faculty, Staff To Counsel Students That One Can Do Best Without Succumbing To Performance Stress

The Delhi High Court has observed that it is high time that the faculty as well as staff members of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) make conscious efforts to counsel and encourage students and to make them understand that though scoring good marks and performing best is important but it is not the most important thing in life.

Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar emphasised that the varsity's faculty must motivate the students that one can certainly give his or her best without succumbing to the pressures or stress of performing better.

“The most significant way of instilling this into young minds who face challenges everyday in the professional and competitive environment of colleges is by teaching them in the very same campus where they spend years of their students lives, the values of prioritizing their health, be it physical or mental, which will also give them the confidence to face every challenge in life,” the court said.

Justice Bhatnagar was dealing with a plea moved by parents of two IIT Delhi students who were found dead in their hostel rooms.

Petitioners alleged that their sons were murdered with the conspiracy of faculty members to hide the real facts and were falsely shown to have committed suicide. The parents alleged that their sons faced caste discrimination by the faculty members as they belonged to the SC/ST community and were under depression.

The plea sought a direction that the cases involving the deaths of their sons be investigated by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It also sought a thorough and impartial probe into the caste based atrocities being committed in the premises of IIT Delhi. 

Dismissing the plea, the court observed that it was aware of the plight of the grieving parents and the agony undergone by them, however, it cannot issue a mandamus on the basis of mere sentiment or sympathy.

It further said that nothing had come up during the enquiry to suggest that the deceased students faced any kind of caste based discrimination by the faculty members or staff in IIT, Delhi.

The court added that none of the other student of the varsity belonging to SC/ST community reported any caste-based discrimination taking place in the campus and thus, the allegations levelled by the parents could not be corroborated or substantiated.

“Undoubtedly, the academic career of two brilliant and young students came to an end under devastating circumstances and one cannot even fathom the challenges and emotions which the parents of the deceased must be facing every day,” the court said.

It added: “Taking into consideration the totality of facts and circumstances of this case, this Court is of the view that a mandamus cannot be issued in a routine manner merely on the basis of sympathy or sentiments, accordingly, the present petition along with pending applications, if any is dismissed being devoid of any merits.”

Counsel for Petitioners: Mehmood Pracha, Mr. Jatin Bhatt and Mr.Harshit S. Gahlot, Advocates

Counsel for Respondents: Mr. Himanshu Pathak, Mr. Sahaj Garg and Samman Kr. Singh, Advocates for R-1/UOI; Mr. Ripu Daman Bhardwaj, SPP for CBI; Ms. Rupali Bandhopadhya, ASC with Mr. Abhijeet Kumar, Adv

Title: AMIT KUMAR & ORS. v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 122

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