In a significant move to combat the troubling rise in student suicides at educational institutions, the Supreme Court of India established a task force on Monday aimed at enhancing the safety and well-being of students on campuses. This decision follows a distressing pattern of student deaths linked to various forms of campus distress, including sexual harassment, ragging, and caste discrimination.
Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, who presided over the bench, expressed deep concern over the recent incidents in college hostels, emphasizing that these were not isolated cases but part of a disturbing trend. “We deem it necessary to discuss the pattern of students’ suicide… What disturbs us even more is that… [they] are not isolated incidents…,” the justices remarked.
The task force, led by former Supreme Court Justice S Ravindra Bhat, is tasked with submitting a report within four months. This report will identify the underlying causes of student suicides and propose measures to strengthen mechanisms for their prevention. The committee will also include secretaries from the departments of Higher Education, Social Justice, Women and Child Development, and Legal Affairs.
The formation of the task force was prompted by a petition from the parents of two students who tragically ended their lives at a hostel in the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 2023. The grieving parents demanded an investigation into the circumstances surrounding their children’s deaths, alleging harassment on campus.
The Supreme Court criticized the police’s handling of the case, particularly the decision to close the case after inquest proceedings, which the court deemed insufficient. “If there are allegations and parents feel children were harassed, it was the duty of the police to register [a] FIR [First Information Report]. To close the proceedings on the basis of inquest proceedings was not enough,” the court explained, clarifying that inquest proceedings are only meant to establish the cause of death, not to conclude investigations.
