IIT-Delhi student from Maharashtra's Nashik found hanging in hostel room

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A student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, was allegedly found hanging in his hostel room, police said on Friday. He was 23-years-old.

An official of Delhi Police told newswire ANI that a PCR call was received from IIT Delhi, Dronagiri Hostel, wherein it was informed that a 23-year-old boy from Nashik, Maharashtra, was found hanging in a room in Dronagiri Hostel, IIT Campus.

The deceased was a student in the M-Tech final year, as per police. A crime team inspection has been done. Further investigation is underway, they said. More details are awaited. In July 2023, a fourth-year B.Tech student allegedly died by suicide in his hostel room at the institute. The deceased was identified as Ayush (20), a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly, as per police.

Meanwhile, a total of 132 PhD seats were denied for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Castes (OBC) by the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), the RTI data shared by the Ambedkar, Periyar, Phule Study Circle (APPSC), a student collective of IIT Bombay, revealed.

As per the PhD admission 2023-24 application record, a total of 4,226 candidates belonging to SC, ST, and OBC, applied, of which only 203 students were selected. Four departments of IIT Delhi have not granted admission to a single candidate from reserved category. Notably, only 2 female candidates were selected for IIT Delhi PhD admission 2023-24.

Sharing the images of data showing the number of applications, the APPSC said: "Despite having more than enough applications from dalit bahujan adivasi students, 132 seats were denied to them. Why doesn't the government nor the judiciary hold the administration of these institutions accountable for violating constitutional rights of students."

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Despite setting up an SC, ST cell and passing a mandate that empowers it to monitor and evaluate the reservation policy in PhD admission and faculty recruitment, "IIT Delhi is continuing to violate reservation". "Our data shows that 25 departments did not admit a single ST Student last year," the student collective said. (With inputs from agencies)