The Supreme Court has constituted a 10-member National Task Force, headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat, to address the mental health issues related to students in higher educational institutions.
Expressing concern over the rising number of student suicide cases across the country, the Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan observed on Monday that the figure had surpassed the number of suicides committed by farmers due to agrarian distress.
Citing the statistics from the Report of the National Crime Records Bureau for 2021, the Apex Court said more than 13,000 students lost their lives by committing suicide in the country, nearly twice the number registered in 2015. The number of student suicides registered a four percent rise in 2024 alone, it added.
Former Supreme Court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat has been appointed as Chairperson of the task force.
Members of the task force include Dr. Alok Sarin, Consultant Psychiatrist, Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, New Delhi; Prof. Mary E John (retired), Former Director, Centre for Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi; Arman Ali, Executive Director, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People; Prof. Rajendar Kachroo, Founder, Aman Satya Kachroo Trust; Dr. Aqsa Shaikh, Professor of the Department of Community Medicine in Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, New Delhi; Dr. Seema Mehrotra, Professor of Clinical Psychology, NIMHANS; Prof. Virginius Xaxa, Visiting Professor at the Institute for Human Development (IHD), New Delhi; and Dr. Nidhi S Sabharwal, Associate Professor, Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education, National University of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi.
The top court of the country appointed Senior Advocate Aparna Bhat as Amicus Curiae in the matter, as well as a member of the task force, which was directed to analyse the existing regulations and laws applicable to higher educational institutions on ragging, discrimination based on gender & caste, and sexual harassment.
The task force was also asked to identify predominant causes leading to student suicides in higher educational institutions, including but not limited to ragging; academic pressure; sexual harassment; mental health-related stigma’ financial burden; discrimination based on gender or caste; ethnicity; tribal identity; political views; disability; religious belief; sexual orientation or any other ground.
It was further ordered to recommend necessary legal reforms ensuring stronger enforcement and accountability, to strengthen protection, and suggest measures to prevent student suicides.
The Bench said the task force would have the authority to conduct surprise inspections of any Higher Educational Institution. It would be at liberty to make further recommendations beyond the specified mandate, wherever necessary, to ensure a holistic and effective approach towards addressing mental-health concerns of students and eliminating the incidence of suicides in higher educational institutions, noted the Apex Court.
The task force was directed to present an interim report within four months and a final report within eight months.
The Bench passed the order on a case related to the death of two students from marginalised communities at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.
In July 2023, BTech student Ayush Ashna was found hanging in his hostel room. On September 1, 2023, Anil Kumar (21), a BTech student and resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Banda district, was found dead in his hostel room at the institute. He joined IIT in 2019.
Parents of the two students alleged that they were murdered and that there had been an attempt to cover up the crime. The parents further alleged that the students faced caste discrimination from IIT faculty and staff.
Earlier in 2024, the Delhi High Court had refused to pass any orders to the police to register criminal cases, after the police said that there was insufficient evidence of any caste discrimination and that the students had died by suicide due to academic pressure.
The parents then moved the Apex Court, which directed that first information reports (FIRs) be registered in both cases and a probe be conducted.
The Bench observed that student suicides were not isolated occurrences. It pointed out that on February 18, 2024, a second-year student at the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Wayanad, Kerala, was found hanging in the bathroom of his hostel.
It said on February 15, 2025, a third-year student pursuing a Bachelors in Technology from the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) campus in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, was found hanging. On February 25, 2025, a third-year student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Patna took his life by allegedly jumping from the seventh floor of his hostel premises.
On March 19, 2025, a third-year law student, aged 21 years, at the Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) was found dead, noted the top court of the country.