According to official data presented in Lok Sabha, 45 cases of suicide among students were registered across 23 IITs over the past five years. The most alarming aspect is that more than 62 percent of these 45 deceased belonged to students from the SC, ST, and OBC castes.
These statistical data cover the period from 2020-21 to 2024-25 and were collected based on information received from all IITs. Analysis by year shows that the highest number of deaths occurred in 2023-24, when 16 people died, whereas in the previous year, 2022-23, there were only six. In 2024-25, 13 cases of suicide were recorded.
According to data on specific institutions, IIT Hyderabad leads in the number of suicides, with seven students dying there. Following them are IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi, and IIT Kanpur, each reporting six deaths. Five students died at IIT Madras, and four at IIT (BHU) Varanasi.
Overall, over the five-year period, the distribution by social group is as follows: 12 students were from the OBC class, nine from the SC class, and seven from the ST class. Additionally, one student belonged to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), and 16 belonged to the general class. If considering only the year 2024-25, out of 13 suicide cases, four were among OBC students, three among ST students, two among SC students, and four from the general class.
It is important to note that in addition to these 45 suicides, eight other deaths were registered over five years, classified as unnatural deaths and not included in the overall suicide statistics. However, the provided data lacks information on the courses studied by the deceased students or the causes of their deaths, so it is inappropriate to draw any substantiated conclusions about the causes of death based solely on this statistics. This information was prepared in response to a question asked in Lok Sabha on December 8, 2025.