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IIT Delhi Students Pause Protest As External Inquiry Begins

The pause shifts pressure to the new panel to answer students’ demands and to restore trust in campus welfare.

Overview

  • A 31-year-old MSc physics student, Rishikesh Kumar, died after a fall on August 22 and Delhi Police have registered an abetment-to-suicide case while they examine his phone and counselling records.
  • Protesting students agreed to suspend on-campus agitation on August 29 pending the report of an external inquiry panel now chaired by retired judge Mukta Gupta.
  • IIT Delhi says the external committee has started work, the institute approved benevolent‑fund assistance for the family, and it plans to appoint an external ombudsperson to handle unresolved grievances.
  • Director Rangan Banerjee warned of disciplinary action after a late‑night march that the administration said entered faculty residential areas, a claim students deny and say was a peaceful call for faculty solidarity.
  • Students allege unauthorised plainclothes Delhi Police entered campus and recorded protesters, a charge that, together with at least eight student suicides since 2023, has fuelled demands for transparent reforms to mental‑health and welfare systems.