IIT Delhi Students Protest After Eighth Campus Death

Students at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi staged a rare campus protest on 25 August 2026 after the death of 31-year-old MSc Physics student Rishikesh Kumar, the eighth student death at the institute in recent years.

Kumar allegedly died by suicide after jumping from the sixth floor of a campus building on the previous Saturday. Protesters, numbering nearly 300, stated that they had come forward only after eight deaths and demanded an independent inquiry into the circumstances and into the broader mental-health and academic pressures on campus.

IIT Delhi Director Rangan Banerjee responded by constituting a five-member External Inquiry Committee. The panel includes former Uttarakhand Director General of Police and IIT Delhi alumnus Ashok Kumar, AIIMS New Delhi psychiatry department head Professor Pratap Sharma, two student representatives, and the institute Registrar as secretary and convenor. The committee has been asked to submit its report within two weeks.

The terms of reference cover the circumstances of Kumar’s death, a review of student, faculty and administrative records, and an examination of existing protocols and processes related to student welfare.

Student suicides at elite Indian technical institutes have drawn repeated public attention. The concentration of eight cases at a single campus has produced an unusually visible internal response. The protest itself is uncommon at IIT Delhi, where organised student demonstrations on internal administrative matters have been rare.

The committee’s findings will determine whether the institute adjusts counselling capacity, academic load policies or reporting mechanisms. The two-week deadline sets a short window for the review.