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

KANPUR: Vikas Kumar Meena, the MTech student at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur who took his own life last week was “depressed” for months because he had failed his programme, was on an extension and had not been placed in a job. His enrolment was terminated recently. He was in IIT Kanpur’s aerospace engineering department.

Ajay Choudhary, an official at the IIT Kanpur police chowki told Careers360, “The student had failed and was in depression due to this. His suicide note also stated that he was depressed because at his age, he should have had a job and supported his family. But he was still depending on his parents. ” The suicide note was found by Vikas’s friend and is currently with Meena’s family.

Chaudhary added, “Even the institute gave him the option to appeal but he didn’t and eventually, [his enrolment] was terminated. He didn’t communicate about his problem and was mentally disturbed.” According to an IIT Kanpur student, Meena had not completed his thesis credits. The death was reported by students on January 10, around 8:30 pm, when they went to call him for dinner. Meena had hanged himself from his fan.

Dheeraj Singh, an IIT Kanpur alumnus who launched a global support and mentoring programme for marginalised students in the IITs in response to the spate of suicides last year, had spoken with Meena in 2023. “The system could have saved Vikas but it let them die out of despair. He lost hope last year,” said Singh.

IIT Kanpur Suicide: Hindi-medium, extension

Meena had approached Singh in May, 2023. “ Vikas said that he was from a Hindi-medium background and was not able to express himself during the job interview. He also informed me that he had a drop-year which impacted his profile. He was low on confidence as other friends from his batch had been placed and had completed their theses. He wasn’t able to focus and eventually was staying alone from everyone in his room most of the time,” said Singh.

Singh added, “He was facing academic issues in MTech and was on extension and also not placed. In our last conversation, he mentioned that he would focus on completing his master’s thesis and after that, look for government jobs,” he said. His CGPA was 7.0 back then and minimum CGPA for passing is 7.5.

A student from the campus who knew Meena said he was working with the head of the aerospace engineering department. He added, “[His enrolment] was terminated recently because of insufficient grades. He got low grades last semester, it seems.”

Meena’s suicide was second at IIT Kanpur in a month. Earlier in January, Phd scholar Pallavi Chilka also died by suicide. In the recent past, IIT Delhi saw three suicides and one attempt to suicide.

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