IIT Bombay student's suicide sparks protest, Cockroach Janata Party asks government how many more must die
A second-year IIT Bombay student died by suicide in his hostel after being found using ChatGPT during an exam, prompting a protest by over 400 students.
A student's suicide at IIT Bombay has caused a major stir across the campus. The second-year BTech student, from the Department of Energy Science and Engineering, hanged himself in his hostel room on September 18. The incident has triggered a strong reaction among students and within the institute.
The background to the incident has also come under wide discussion. According to IIT Bombay's official version, the student was found using his mobile phone during an exam. The institute said he had tried to upload the exam question paper to ChatGPT to obtain answers from it. However, the institute claimed that no disciplinary action had been initiated against the student in this matter. The head of the department concerned and professors there had spoken to the student directly and counselled him. He had also been clearly told at the time that the matter would not have any adverse effect on his future academic career, the institute said. Despite being told this, the student went to his own hostel room and was found dead there a short while later. The agencies concerned are currently investigating the full sequence of events and exactly what happened.
As soon as news of the student's death spread, strong anger erupted among students across the campus and they immediately launched a major protest. More than 400 students took part in the protest and placed various demands before the administration. Amid the protest, a decision was taken to postpone the mid-semester exams that were underway at the institute at the time. It has also emerged that there is a wide gap between the IIT administration's version of events and the allegations made by students, making a fair inquiry into the matter necessary to establish the exact facts.
Following the incident, Cockroach Janata Party chief Abhijit Deepke reacted strongly on social media and directly questioned the government. He said the crisis facing students' lives, from remote tribal areas to a big metropolitan city like Mumbai, was growing more serious by the day and went beyond any geographical boundary. He asked whether students' lives would actually be given priority, and how many more students would have to lose their lives.
