Protests at Ranchi’s Indian Institute of Information Technology entered the third day on Monday over the death by suicide of a first-year student on Saturday.
The student, Adity Kumar, a resident of Bihar’s Bhagalpur district, was “found unconscious” and hanging from a ceiling fan in his hostel room on Saturday. He died while being taken to hospital, students told Scroll. They allege that the institute failed to respond in time to save the student.
Around 10.30 am on Sunday, the students sat in protest on a road near the hostel, demanding the resignation of the director. The students were forced to leave the area two hours later by the police.
Ranchi (Sadar) Deputy Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Besra, who visited the institute, said that a probe was underway to ascertain the reason behind the suicide.
“Preliminary investigation suggests the incident was related to examination related issues,” he said. “The body has been sent for autopsy,” Besra said.
The protesting students are demanding the resignation of the director of the institute, alleging that IIIT Ranchi failed to provide timely medical assistance to the student, who is around 19 years old.
“He could have survived if he had been taken to the hospital on time,” a first-year engineering student told Scroll. “But an ambulance was not...