The Supreme Court on Monday issued a directive to the authorities in Bengal and Uttar Pradesh to accelerate the investigation into the recent suicides at IIT Kharagpur and Sharda University in Greater Noida.

The court reminded the authorities of their mandatory duty to promptly register a FIR in such cases.

A bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan expressed concern over the rising incidents of suicides in educational institutions and asked IIT Kharagpur the reasons for such incidents.

“What is wrong with your IIT Kharagpur? Why are students committing suicide in your institute? Have you given a thought to the problems?” Justice Pardiwala, heading the bench, asked senior advocate M.R. Shamshad, appearing for the institute.

As many as four students have allegedly died by suicide on the IIT premises over the last seven months.

Shamshad informed the bench that the university was concerned about the issue and had constituted a 10-member probe committee.

Shamshad said another 12-member team had also been formed to counsel the students.

He, however, submitted that many students do not come forward to share their problems, resulting in such unfortunate incidents.

The bench had earlier issued a slew of directions on March 24 for educational institutions across the country to forthwith register FIRs in all such cases of suicides and suspicious deaths among students.

On June 21, it had again issued a suo motu notice to the IIT Khargapur and Sharda University, where a female dental student had allegedly committed suicide.

It had appointed senior advocate Aparna Bhat as amicus curiae to assist the court in the matter.

The court questioned senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Sharda University, about the delay in lodging the FIR and what compelled the student’s father to lodge an FIR. The university has to do so.

“An unfortunate incident had occurred in your university. A young girl had died. Why are you not complying with our directives?” the bench asked Divan while referring to its March 24 directions.

Aparna Bhat told the bench that in the case of IIT Khargapur, the management had promptly lodged an FIR, within half an hour. In the case of Sharda University, the complaint was lodged by the father after two hours of the incident. Bhat told the bench that based on the suicide note left by the student, the UP police have arrested two persons.

Later, the bench passed an order directing the authorities to “expeditiously” investigate the two incidents and posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks.

Earlier on March 24, the top court had directed that henceforth it shall be mandatory for all universities/colleges across the country to promptly lodge an FIR with the local police whenever a student commits suicide as it constituted a National Task Force (NTF) to be headed by former apex court judge Justice Ravindra Bhat to identify the causes for such suicides particularly in higher educational institutions like IITs and IIMs.

The bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan passed the judgment while directing Delhi Police to register FIRs in the case of two Dalit students who, according to the institutions, had committed suicide, even as their parents alleged they were murdered.

The cops had filed closure reports without filing any FIRs. Significantly, the bench, quoting official data, including reports tabled in Parliament, noted that suicides in higher educational institutions in recent years were much higher than farmer suicides owing to the agrarian crisis.

“We are of the view that the responsibility of maintaining the safety and well-being of students rests heavily on the administration of the educational institution. Therefore, in the event of any unfortunate incident, such as a suicide occurring on campus, it becomes their unequivocal duty to lodge an FIR promptly with the appropriate authorities.