Cluster suicides prompt probes

A string of student suicides at elite campuses in north and east India has triggered hostel closures, police probes and negligence cases against staff. (hindustantimes.com) At the National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra, administrators on April 18 ordered students to vacate hostels by the next day and transferred two professors after four student suicides in two months. The latest death was a 20-year-old second-year student found in her hostel room on April 16, according to Hindustan Times. (hindustantimes.com) Students at NIT Kurukshetra protested after that death and demanded a thorough inquiry, while police also reported another student attempted suicide on Friday night. Careers360 reported the institute had already been under pressure after three earlier deaths in roughly eight weeks. (hindustantimes.com; news.careers360.com) At the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, a 21-year-old third-year mechanical engineering student, Jayveersinh Dodiya of Ahmedabad, died on April 18 after a fall from the eighth floor of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hall. Police opened an investigation, and the institute said it was grieving the loss. (news.careers360.com; indianexpress.com) That death added to scrutiny already surrounding IIT Kharagpur after a series of student deaths over the past year, with recent coverage describing the April 18 case as another campus suicide under police review. The immediate issue in both institute cases is no longer only counseling access, but whether administrators acted fast enough when warning signs and earlier deaths had already surfaced. (indianexpress.com; news.careers360.com) In Pune, the response moved into criminal law. Police booked officials of Yashotej Academy, a coaching center for National Defence Academy aspirants, for alleged negligence after 17-year-old student Avdhut Ulhas Bade died by suicide in the academy’s hostel on November 10, 2025, The Indian Express reported on April 19. (indianexpress.com) The Indian Express said the first information report was filed after the teenager’s father alleged the academy ignored his son’s distress and failed to inform the family promptly. The report said police named the academy director, hostel rector and other staff under provisions tied to negligence and abetment allegations. (indianexpress.com) Across the three cases, the institutions and police are now being pressed on the same question: what supervision existed before the deaths, and what records will show about staff response afterward. The next steps are formal inquiries, police investigations and, in Pune, a criminal case that will test whether negligence claims can be proved. (hindustantimes.com; news.careers360.com; indianexpress.com)