265 - Kharagpur Confessions - Face Book

Kharagpur Confessions April 2 ·

Kharagpur, March 30: An IIT Kharagpur student hailing from Rajasthan was today found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room and a note found on his bed said: “Mother, forgive me.”

Police said Lokesh Kumar Goyel, 22, a fourth-year chemical engineering student, apparently committed suicide because he was suffering from “some kind of depression”.

The alleged suicide comes days after another IIT student from Andhra Pradesh hanged himself to death on March 17, upset with not getting the job of his choice.

It could not be immediately confirmed if Lokesh, who was described by IIT authorities as a good student and a jovial person, was unhappy with any job interview.

A police officer said: “We found a three-line note lying on the bed addressed to his mother. The note said: ‘Mother forgive me for what I have done in four years’. However, the lines were scratched out with a pencil. We suspect the student was suffering from some kind of depression. We are waiting for the post-mortem report.”

IIT registrar Tapan Kumar Ghosal said the news of Lokesh’s death came as a “shock” to him. “It was a shock. He was a good student and performed well in his semesters. He was a jovial person, too. Yesterday, he had dinner with his friends in the hostel. We are surprised at the turn of events. We have informed the student’s family at Khanna in Karauli district of Rajasthan,” Ghosal said.

He added that Lokesh was preparing for an internship in Mumbai.

The body of Lokesh was today found by his friends who had come to call him for dinner. Doctors said the 22-year-old had died at least six to seven hours before being brought to the hospital.

“It was around 7.20pm and we were going for dinner. I went to call him but found the door of his room bolted from inside. When he did not respond to repeated knocking, I called some other inmates of the hostel and broke the door. We found him hanging from the ceiling fan. We informed the authorities and called an ambulance.”

A police officer said preliminary examination had revealed that Lokesh had tried to cut the veins of his left wrist and left leg but was unsuccessful.

The police said a team arrived from the station just outside the IIT campus within five minutes of being informed and brought down the body.

“When we took the student to B.C. Roy Hospital on the campus, doctors declared him dead on arrival,” a police officer said.

Today’s was the second alleged suicide at IIT Kharagpur in a month. On March 17, Boga Shravan, a student from Andhra Pradesh pursuing MTech in computer science, committed suicide as the job he got in a university offered a much lower salary than what he had aimed for.

On March 11, Shoaib Ahmed, an IIT Guwahati student hailing from North 24-Parganas, was found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room. IIT Guwahati director Gautam Biswas had said Shoaib’s friends had told the authorities that the student had been suffering from depression. His family had contested the claim.

245 - THE CULTURE OF IIT LEADS TO STUDENT SUICIDES

THE CULTURE OF IIT LEADS TO STUDENT SUICIDES

http://indians4socialchange.com/author/jatinbharwani/

When people imagine college life, they think of studying, socializing, and learning. No one thinks of suicide. However, at IIT Kharagpur, suicide is becoming a terrible trend. In the past six years, the university has seen an unprecedented twenty-two suicides. Many school officials say that this number is very high compared to those of the past

Issue

In March of this year, there were two student suicides that happened within a two-week span. Boga Shravan, age twenty-four, committed suicide on March 17 and Lokesh Kumar Goyel, age twenty-two committed suicide on March 30. Both students hung themselves in their rooms. Boga was a computer science student and Lokesh was in his final year of chemical engineering. 

These suicides really took an emotional toll on both the students and faculty. Instead of being able to focus on work, these students must mourn the deaths of their peers. Depression has been speculated in both cases as Boga had completely left Facebook after years of avid use and Kumar admitted in his suicide note that he was facing “some kind of depression”. 

Although often shunned, depression is a prevalent issue at every IIT. Currently over 200 students are seeing doctors at IIT Kharagpur. These psychologists aim to catch depression at its early stages in order to medicate those afflicted.

Causes

The major reason why these students face depression is because of the incredibly intense workload at IIT. These students spend sixteen hours a day, trying to get decent marks in some of the hardest classes. Students must learn very technical things and compete for the best grades. This difficult life perpetuates throughout college and can be very daunting. Even after students graduate, there is no guarantee of a decent paying job.

In Boga’s case, he had received a job with a much lower salary than he had expected. Believing all the hard work in school resulted in almost nothing is a serious stressor for these young adults.

Moving Forward

IIT should work to do more to ensure its students have access to psychologists and counselors whenever they need them. It is important that these students who lead very stressful lives can seek someone to talk to about their issues. 

Additionally, a critical supplementary issue is lack of media coverage. There is very little information presented about student depression at IIT. Depression is still a very embarrassing topic for many Indians. Those suffering from psychological disorders still face brutal ostracism and as a result, many avoid diagnosis. 

A byproduct is self medication through alcohol and illegal drugs. The only way to combat this stigma is to expose people to the consequences of undiagnosed disorders. We need to spread the idea that afflictions like depression can be treated and is important to be treated.

239 - Second suicide in a month gets IIT Kharagpur worried

Second suicide in a month gets IIT Kharagpur worried Monday, 31 March 2014 Kolkata, March 31: The second incident of a student allegedly committing suicide within a month at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, has raised deep concern among the authorities of the oldest IIT in the country. Fourth year Chemical Engineering student Lokesh Kumar Goyal (22) was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his hostel room late Sunday night. Confirming the incident, institute's Registrar T.K. Ghosal expressed his dismay over Goyal's death as he was good student and did not seem to suffer from any kind of depression. "His cumulative grade point average was about eight which is excellent. Moreover, he was jovial and did not seem to suffer from any kind of depression. We are finding it hard to fathom why he chose to end his life," Ghosal told IANS. The body was handed over to his family after a postmortem was conducted. Earlier this month 24-year-old S.Boga, a M.Tech student, hailing from Andhra Pradesh, too was found hanging from the ceiling. "We are extremely concerned with the twin incidents, we have a counseling center where a number of professional and experienced counselors are available whose services can be sought whenever a students feel like. "But then, there may be other issues in the personal domain which a student may not wish to divulge. In that case we are helpless. We are working to ensure that students seek counseling so that such a unfortunate incident can be prevented," added Ghosal. (IANS)

238 - Midnapore: IIT Kharagpur student commits suicide

Midnapore: IIT Kharagpur student commits suicide

Cities | Press Trust of India | Updated: March 31, 2014 22:29 

Midnapore, West Bengal:  An M.Tech student (dual course) of Chemical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his room at the hostel, the police said today.

The fourth year student, Lokesh Kumar Goyel, 22, was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his room at Radhakrishnan Hall last night, SDPO of Kharagpur, Ajit Singh Yadav said.

The students informed the IIT authorities after Lokesh did not respond when his friends called him to have dinner last night, he said.

He hailed from Rajasthan and was a fourth year student at the IIT.

A suicide note written to his mother was found on the bed and the investigations are underway.

237 - Second suicide at IIT hostel in fortnight - Telegraph India

Second suicide at IIT hostel in fortnight

OUR CORRESPONDENT


Kharagpur, March 30: An IIT Kharagpur student hailing from Rajasthan was today found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room and a note found on his bed said: “Mother, forgive me.”

Police said Lokesh Kumar Goyel, 22, a fourth-year chemical engineering student, apparently committed suicide because he was suffering from “some kind of depression”.

The alleged suicide comes days after another IIT student from Andhra Pradesh hanged himself to death on March 17, upset with not getting the job of his choice.

It could not be immediately confirmed if Lokesh, who was described by IIT authorities as a good student and a jovial person, was unhappy with any job interview.

A police officer said: “We found a three-line note lying on the bed addressed to his mother. The note said: ‘Mother forgive me for what I have done in four years’. However, the lines were scratched out with a pencil. We suspect the student was suffering from some kind of depression. We are waiting for the post-mortem report.”

IIT registrar Tapan Kumar Ghosal said the news of Lokesh’s death came as a “shock” to him. “It was a shock. He was a good student and performed well in his semesters. He was a jovial person, too. Yesterday, he had dinner with his friends in the hostel. We are surprised at the turn of events. We have informed the student’s family at Khanna in Karauli district of Rajasthan,” Ghosal said.

He added that Lokesh was preparing for an internship in Mumbai.

The body of Lokesh was today found by his friends who had come to call him for dinner. Doctors said the 22-year-old had died at least six to seven hours before being brought to the hospital.

“It was around 7.20pm and we were going for dinner. I went to call him but found the door of his room bolted from inside. When he did not respond to repeated knocking, I called some other inmates of the hostel and broke the door. We found him hanging from the ceiling fan. We informed the authorities and called an ambulance.”

A police officer said preliminary examination had revealed that Lokesh had tried to cut the veins of his left wrist and left leg but was unsuccessful.

The police said a team arrived from the station just outside the IIT campus within five minutes of being informed and brought down the body.

“When we took the student to B.C. Roy Hospital on the campus, doctors declared him dead on arrival,” a police officer said.

Today’s was the second alleged suicide at IIT Kharagpur in a month. On March 17, Boga Shravan, a student from Andhra Pradesh pursuing MTech in computer science, committed suicide as the job he got in a university offered a much lower salary than what he had aimed for.

On March 11, Shoaib Ahmed, an IIT Guwahati student hailing from North 24-Parganas, was found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room. IIT Guwahati director Gautam Biswas had said Shoaib’s friends had told the authorities that the student had been suffering from depression. His family had contested the claim.