273 - IIT-Guwahati Joins IITs’ Suicide Club - Blog Ask IITians

IIT-Guwahati Joins IITs’ Suicide Club

askIITians       2014-03-12      

Students of IIT-Guwahati woke up to tragic news on Tuesday in the campus. Its 22 year old student, S.M. Shohaib, committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling fan at around 7.30 am in the morning.

S.M. Shohaib hailed from Bhabla in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. He was a bright second year postgraduate student in Mathematics.

According to public relations authority of IIT-Guwahati, S.M. Shohaib was first spotted hanging in his room 204, on the second floor of Dibang Hostel, by his friends who came knocking to ask him to come with them for the class.

The door of his room was not locked from inside.

IIT-Guwahati authority got to know about this tragic event at around 8.00 am after half an hour of the incident.

“It appears to be a case of suicide. We didn’t see any signs of foul play. The laceration mark on Shoaib’s neck was oblique as opposed to a round mark that is normally seen when a person is killed,” said Siddhi Kumar Barua, the investigating officer and deputy superintendent of police, Jalukbari.
“Some other body fluids were found on Shoaib’s body,” said Jatin Bora, magistrate and circle officer (Kamrup).

The body of the student has already been sent for post-mortem to the GMCH by police.

According to reports, S.M. Shohaib had been watching a movie—Black Friday—with his friends till midnight in room 201.
S.M. Shohaib had joined IIT-Guwahati last year in July.

Friends of S.M. Shohaib in the campus said that he was suffering from severe depression for past couple of months. He was also undergoing treatment and was on medication.

His friends believe that it is not possible for the campus administration to keep a track of every student’s mental condition. However, the campus has a standard health center with doctors round the clock.

With a string of suicides in the past at IITs, no IIT institution till now has made it mandatory to check mental health of a student entering the campus. However, IITs check physical health of students.

“He was fine and never told us anything about it. He had called home three days ago and told our mother that he would come home on March 10. He later called to say that he had to cancel the trip because he had to attend extra classes,” Shamim, Shohaib’s elder brother said.

Shohaib was the second of four siblings. Bachelors in Mathematics from Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission College with a first class degree, he had scored over 80 percent in his school boards.

Suicide Strikes Again in IIT-Roorkee after 2 Years—Death Toll Rises to 4 in IITs since December

IIT Kanpur Student Commits Suicide—Third Suicide Case in IIT-Kanpur Since last December

M. Siva Teja of IIT-Bombay Found Dead in Vishakhapatnam

This post was published by Rakesh Singh, The product head at askIITians and an IIT- Delhi and IIM-Kozhikode alumni.

272 - Why BITS Pilani Does Not Have a Suicide Club like IITs? - Blog Ask IITians

Why BITS Pilani Does Not Have a Suicide Club like IITs?

askIITians       2014-03-14

    

The debate over supremacy between India’s two hallowed engineering institutions, BITS Pilani and IITs, is reaching to a real controversial chapter with critics finally delving into the subject they have avoided till now—suicides.

The recent news of an IIT-Guwahati student, S.M. Shohaib, ending his life under mysterious circumstances has sparked outrage in the country over IITs inability to deal with situations that lead students to take such an extreme step.

On the other hand, BITS Pilani sports a squeaky-clean image with fewer suicide cases than IITs. But the real question is—how? Especially when they are both brutal famous engineering institutions churning out the world’s best engineers. They are both teaching the same damn subjects! Why are students at peace in BITS Pilani?

Engineering aspirants who wish to join BITS-Pilani someday believe that the campus offers flexibility in education. Students are almost free to pursue anything in the campus. This engineering institution believes in giving opportunities to students and makes explore them with deep insightful strategies.

Students have flexibility to choose their subjects of choice as electives along with their main subjects. All of it keeps students at peace at BITS-Pilani campuses. There’s no way one can get depressed or feel mentally exploited by campus administration.

Single rooms and no attendance are two quite unique features only introduced by BITS-Pilani. That means students who are not comfortable sharing their rooms with other students can live in a single room facility. This not only gives them a sense of privacy, but also helps them concentrate deeply on their studies. Living with others in engineering institutions has as many benefits as drawbacks.

No attendance policy of BITS Pilani is its most talked-about feature. Students don’t have to attend boring classes just for the heck of it. BITS-Pilani don’t force its students to attend classes that they don’t want to. Of course, this does not happen in IITs. Students are required to maintain a good attendance rate in IITs, which many students believe takes toll in their lives at one point or another.

All right! Shortage of quality faculty in IITs was big news recently. All IITs are still grappling to deal with this situation. Shortage of quality faculty affects overall education system of just any institution. Depression among students has been closely linked to shortage of quality teaching staff according to many studies.

However, BITS Pilani has some of the world’s best teaching staff. They not only teach students, but also give their valuable guidance whenever they need. They understand them. Many decisions in the campus are taken by teachers and students mutually. So there is no point of students getting stressed over anything. BITS Pilani understands the role of right education in students’ life but does not feed it to them blindly. BITS Pilani believes in making teaching creative and smart.

According to reports, suicide rates in IITs increase by 18% every year. This clearly shows that the entire education system in IITs needs an immediate reform. Although both institutions teach the same thing to students, the difference between their ways of teaching changes the entire game.

IIT-Guwahati Joins IITs’ Suicide Club

The Haunted Truth of Indian Institute of Technology

Suicide Strikes Again in IIT-Roorkee after 2 Years—Death Toll Rises to 4 in IITs since December

IIT Kanpur Student Commits Suicide—Third Suicide Case in IIT-Kanpur Since last December

This post was published by Nishant Sinha, co-founder of askIITians.

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.

264 - IIT boy’s father smells foul play in death - Telegraph India

IIT boy’s father smells foul play in death  

SOUMEN BHATTACHARJEE 

Shoaib Ahmed, the IIT student found dead

Basirhat, March 12: The father of the IIT Guwahati student found hanging in his hostel room yesterday has contested the claim that his son committed suicide and has alleged foul play. “We don’t believe that Shoaib (Ahmed) committed suicide. Have you ever heard that one commits suicide by keeping the door of his room open? There is foul play behind my son’s death,” said Mustaq Ahmed, the 22-year-old’s father who lives in North 24-Parganas’ Bhabla and teaches science in a local school. “We will decide on our future course of action after the last rites are over,” he added. The body of Shoaib, who was allegedly found hanging around 7.30am yesterday by some of his hostel mates, was flown to Calcutta this afternoon. His relatives reached Bhabla with the body around 7.30pm. IIT Guwahati director Gautam Biswas had said yesterday that Shoaib’s friends had told the authorities that the 22-year-old, who was pursuing masters in mathematics, had been suffering from depression. Shoaib’s uncle Samsad Ali, who lives in Guwahati, echoed Mustaq. “We suspect foul play. Shoaib’s room was found open. We have submitted relevant documents and Shoaib’s cellphone to police (in Assam) for a proper inquiry,” Samsad said. The officer in charge of Jalukbari police station in Guwahati, P.K. Das, said circumstantial evidence suggested that Shoaib had committed suicide. “But we did not find a suicide note. We will know the cause of death after we get the post-mortem report, which is likely to be submitted in three days,” Das said. A pall of gloom descended on Shoaib’s two-storey house and the neighbourhood today. Neighbours and relatives stood in front of the house. “Shoaib’s mother was informed about her son’s death this morning. She has been crying since then,” said Golam Kuddus, 53, a neighbour. A relative said he did not believe that Shoaib had ended his own life as no suicide note had been found. He also contested the claim that the student was suffering from depression. “We don’t know if he was depressed. But he was definitely under study-related stress, which is natural in institutions like IITs,” the relative said.

263 - Family suspects foul play - Telegraph India

Family suspects foul play

SUMIR KARMAKAR

Guwahati, March 12: IIT Guwahati student Shoaib Ahmed’s family today alleged that he had not committed suicide and suspected foul play.

“We suspect foul play. His room was found open. We have submitted all the papers and deposited his mobile phone to police for a proper inquiry,” Shoaib’s uncle Samsad Ali, who lives here, said.

Shoaib’s father Sheikh Mustaq Ahmed, a science teacher, today said at Basirhat in West Bengal, “We don’t believe that Shoaib committed suicide. Have you ever heard that one commits suicide by keeping the door of his room open? There is foul play behind my son’s death.”

Shoaib was yesterday found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room by a group of students who had come to call him for class at 7.30am. Shoaib’s body, on which a post-mortem was conducted yesterday, was handed over to his family around 11 this morning. It was flown to Calcutta at 2.30pm. It reached his home at Bhabla around 7.30pm, escorted by his elder brother, Shamim Ahmed.

Jalukbari police station officer-in-charge P.K. Das, today said they were waiting for the post-mortem report. He said while circumstantial evidence suggested suicide, they had not found any suicide note.

A relative said Shoaib was not known to be suffering from depression. “But he was definitely under stress about his studies which is natural in institutions like IIT.”