IIT-Guwahati student death: Dean resigns after massive protest

Guwahati, Sep 11 (IANS) After a massive protest over the death of a 21-year-old B. Tech student of IIT-Guwahati, the academic dean of the institute, Professor Kanduru V. Krishna, resigned from his post.

The students launched a massive protest alleging that the environment at the institute was toxic and demanded the removal of Krishna from his Dean post.

The protest was launched after the body of the student was found hanging in the hostel room on Monday.

The deceased, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, studied Computer Science and Engineering at the institution.

Krishna's resignation was accepted by the IIT-Guwahati authorities.

Krishna, an alumnus of IIT Delhi, did his Ph. D. in 2006 after earning a Master's in Mathematics from Andhra University. He has been involved in General Algebra and Theoretical Computer Science research.

Hundreds of students demonstrated in front of the administration building, claiming that academic pressure from the classroom was the cause of their fellow student's demise.

A protesting student said, "Despite getting good marks in the examination, many students failed due to short attendance. In our batch, at least 200 students failed due to low attendance. This is unacceptable. One or two students might have done something wrong, but such a huge number of pupils can not be found on the wrong foot. The administration of IIT-Guwahati has created a toxic environment in the name of academic pressure."

This was the third death in IIT-Guwahati this year. On August 9, exactly one month ago, the body of a 23-year-old M. Tech student at the institute was found in her dorm room. She was a native of Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, the IIT-Guwahati authorities and police have launched an inquiry into the death of the student. Moreover, a series of mental well-being programmes were also started to help the students to deal with stress.

A 20-year-old Bihar B.Tech student was also found dead in his hostel room in April.