Congress accuses Center of hiding data on suicides of IIT students

Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal. File | Photo credit: ANI

The Congress on Tuesday (September 22, 2026) alleged that the government has withheld data on suicides at Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), alleging that more than half of the students who died by suicide in the premier institutions in the last five years belonged to the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities.

Congress General Secretary (Organizations) KC Venugopal alleged that the Education Ministry deliberately excluded data related to suicides from its reply to a parliamentary question raised in December 2025.

“When I raised this issue in Parliament in a question to be tabled on December 8, 2025, the ministry responded vaguely and avoided divulging specific figures,” Mr. Venugopal said in a post on X.

He said the deputy in the ministry had written to the IITs on December 1, 2025, asking for relevant information, but the dates were not included in the minister’s reply.

“This shows that their intention was to lie to the people, to hide the extent of discrimination that occurs in elite government institutions,” Mr Venugopal said.

He was reacting to a news report which claimed that 53 students have died by suicide at IITs in the last five years and that more than 50% of them belonged to the SC, ST and OBC communities.

With reference to the death of an IIT-B student

Linking the issue to the death of Sahil Wakode, who was from the SC community and a student of IIT-Bombay, the Congress leader demanded an explanation from the government as to why the data was not released.

“When Sahil Wakode’s death shocked the entire nation, hiding such data makes the government complicit in creating the atmosphere that caused Sahil’s death,” he said.

Kodikunnil Suresh, the party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha and a Dalit leader himself, also expressed concern over the student’s death.

“Sahil’s life mattered. His dignity mattered. His family deserves truth, justice and accountability,” Mr Suresh said in a post on X.

The Congress demanded that the government release data and spell out measures to address problems among students from marginalized communities at IITs.

Published – 22 Sep 2026 22:57 IST