IIT Kanpur PhD student dies by suicide; second death in January

NEW DELHI: Another student dies by suicide at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur); second death in January. The first year PhD student, Priyanka Jaiswal, was found dead in IIT Kanpur’s girls hostel this afternoon.

The 29-year-old had joined the institute 20 days before to pursue PhD in chemical engineering. Priyanka is a native of Jharkhand’s Dumka. The exact cause of death is yet to be confirmed.

A police team rushed to the spot this afternoon after the IIT Kanpur administration informed Kalyanpur police station that a research student died by suicide. A police team which reached the hostel found that the hostel room was locked from inside. After breaking open the door, they found her hanging from the ceiling fan.

The student was immediately rushed to the hospital. However, she could not be saved. It said the forensic team has taken stock of the matter and an investigation is ongoing.

The IIT-K administration expressed condolences and said: “With profound grief, IIT Kanpur mourns the untimely and unfortunate demise of a PhD student, Ms. Priyanka Jaiswal, who joined the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Institute last month, that is December 2023.”

Also read ‘System let him die’: IIT Kanpur MTech student was depressed due to low grades, unemployment

“She was found dead in her hostel room this afternoon. A police forensic team visited the campus to review the reason for the death. The Institute is awaiting the police investigation to determine the likely cause of the death. With Ms. Priyanka’s passing away, the Institute lost a bright and promising young student,” the official statement read.

On January 10 late night, an MTech student , Vikas Kumar Meena, was found hanging in his hostel room. The police said he was “under stress” for several days as he failed in his programme.

In another similar case, a 34-year-old research scholar , Pallavi Chilka, from Odisha's Cuttack was found dead inside the hostel room. The preliminary probe suggested depression to be the cause of the extreme step. As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report 2023, the number of deaths by graduate and above amounted to 5.2% of all suicides in 2022.

If you, or anyone you know, needs help, AASRA has a list of resources here: http://www.aasra.info/helpline.html .