The family of Aniket Walkar, a fourth-year BTech student found dead on the IIT Kharagpur campus last month, wondered why the IIT authorities had not lodged an FIR after the Supreme Court, in an order on March 24, said “promptly lodging” an FIR was the “unequivocal duty” of an institute in the event of an unfortunate incident “such as a suicide”.
Aniket’s elder brother, Sudeep Walkar, who graduated from IIT Gauhati in 2022, said: “It is unfortunate. The institute should have lodged an FIR by now, given what the Supreme Court had said in its March 24 order.”
Sudeep wrote to Kharagpur Town police on April 28, requesting them to lodge an FIR urgently “based on the complaint”.
A division bench of the Supreme Court said in a written order on March 24: “We are of the view that the responsibility of maintaining the safety and well-being of students rests heavily on the administration of every educational institution. Therefore, in the event of any unfortunate incident, such as a suicide occurring on campus, it becomes their unequivocal duty to promptly lodge an F.I.R. with the appropriate authorities.”
“Such action is not only a legal obligation but also a moral imperative to ensure transparency, accountability, and the pursuit of justice,” the apex court said while constituting a national task force to address mental health concerns of students and prevent suicides in higher education institutions.
Sudeep said the police have yet to lodge an FIR.
Amit Patra, acting director of IIT Kharagpur and also director of IIT BHU (Varanasi), told this newspaper on Wednesday that an FIR would be lodged in connection with the death of Md Asif Quamar, a third-year student found dead on the campus on May 4. It was lodged on Thursday.
Md Nadim Quamar, Asif’s elder brother, said: “The IIT administration informed us that an FIR has been filed. We are surprised to know that it was not filed earlier.”
When Metro asked Patra if the institute was planning to lodge an FIR on Aniket’s death on April 20, he said in a text message on Thursday: “We are looking into it.”
In the past four months, three students have been found dead in their hostel rooms on the campus.
Two of the deaths — of Aniket, who was from Maharashtra, and Asif, from Bihar — were within a fortnight.
IIT Delhi issued a notice on May 7: “The Supreme Court of India vide judgment dated 24.03.2025 has held that in the event of any unfortunate... to promptly lodge an FIR with the appropriate law enforcement agency. In the event of any such... the FIR shall be lodged by the security officer of IIT Delhi.”
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) wrote to the West Midnapore district superintendent of police on May 7 asking for an action taken report with the FIR number, date, sections and number of accused arrested in connection with Aniket’s death, sources on the IIT campus said.
Dheeraj Singh, founder of the Global IIT alumni group, a platform that keeps track of deaths on IIT campuses across the county, told Metro: “At a time when there has been a spate of deaths on the IIT Kharagpur campus, the administration has been found wanting when it comes to taking action. They decided to form a committee to probe the reasons for the recurrence of deaths only after the brother and mother of Aniket Walkar wrote to the administration on April 28.”
The authorities have yet to announce the composition of the committee.
