New Delhi, July 21 (IANS) The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of student suicides at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur (West Bengal) and Greater Noida’s Sharda University, asking whether the educational institutes promptly reported the incidents to the police for the registration of FIRs.

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan appointed senior advocate Aparna Bhatt as amicus curiae in the matter to gather details regarding the promptness of the registration of FIRs as mandated by an apex court judgment delivered in March this year.

“In these two cases, if FIRs are not registered or if there is a delay and nothing has been done, be prepared. We will initiate contempt proceedings and direct them to be sent to civil prison,” remarked the Justice Pardiwala-led Bench.

In just seven months, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur has witnessed four unnatural deaths. The latest case involved Ritam Mondal, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student, whose body was discovered under mysterious circumstances in his hostel room on Friday.

In a separate but similarly distressing incident, a second-year Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) student of Sharda University allegedly died by suicide late Friday night in the girls’ hostel located at the university campus in Greater Noida’s Knowledge Park.

A suicide note was recovered from the student’s room, in which she accused one male and one female faculty member of the university’s dental department of mentally harassing her. Based on a complaint filed by the student’s family, police registered an FIR against two faculty members – identified in the suicide note as Mahender Sir and Shairg Ma’am – under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including charges related to abetment of suicide.

The tragic incident has sparked protests on campus and led to the arrest of both teachers.

Earlier in May, the Supreme Court made strong remarks over the increasing number of such incidents in Rajasthan’s Kota.

The Justice Pardiwala-led Bench had questioned the Rajasthan government’s inaction, stating, “Fourteen students have committed suicide in Kota so far this year. What are you doing about it as a state? Why are students committing suicide in Kota? Have you not given it any thought?”

Following this, Rajasthan Police filed FIRs in two separate student suicide cases—one at Kunhari Police Station and another at Mahavir Nagar Police Station.

–IANS

pds/uk