Student suicides outnumber farmer suicides: Supreme Court forms Task Force to address mental health issues

The Supreme Court has ordered the constitution of a ten-member National Task Force to address the mental health concerns of students and prevent student suicides in higher educational institutions [Amit Kumar vs Union of India]..The bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan passed the ruling on concerns about increasing student suicide cases across educational institutions. The number of student suicides has now surpassed suicides by farmers, the Court observed."The statistics contained in the Report of the National Crime Records Bureau for the year 2021 highlight the grim reality of over 13,000 students having lost their lives by committing suicide in the country which is almost twice the already disturbing number a decade ago. The number of student suicides has now surpassed suicides committed by farmers due to agrarian distress, with a four percent rise in 2024 alone," the Court found. .Number of student suicides has now surpassed suicides committed by farmers due to agrarian distress.Supreme Court .The Court was dealing with a case concerning the deaths of two students from marginalised communities at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT Delhi).In July 2023, a BTech student named 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.The parents alleged that the two students were murdered and that there has been an attempt to cover up the crime. It was also alleged that they faced caste discrimination from IIT faculty and staff.Last year, the Delhi High Court 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 students' parents, therefore, approached the Supreme Court for relief. On Monday, the top court directed that first information reports (FIRs) be registered in the both cases and that a probe be conducted..IITs must teach that marks are not most important thing: Delhi High Court refuses to order FIR in suicide of 2 SC students.Notably, the Court went on to observe that student suicides were not isolated occurrences."On 18 February, 2024, a second-year student at the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Wayanad, Kerala, was found hanging in the bathroom of his hostel. On 19th March, 2025, a third-year law student, aged 21 years, at the Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) was found dead. On 25th February, 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 15th February, 2025, a third-year student pursuing a Bachelors in Technology from Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) campus in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, was found hanging," the judgment pointed out..It, therefore, set up a task force to examine such issues. The members of the National Task Force are:i. Justice S Ravindra Bhat, former judge of the Supreme Court of India, as the Chairperson;ii. Dr. Alok Sarin, Consultant Psychiatrist, Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, New Delhi;iii. Prof. Mary E John (retired), Former Director, Centre for Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi;iv. Arman Ali, Executive Director, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People;v. Prof. Rajendar Kachroo, Founder, Aman Satya Kachroo Trust;vi. Dr. Aqsa Shaikh, Professor of the Department of Community Medicine in Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, New Delhi;vii. Dr. Seema Mehrotra, Professor of Clinical Psychology, NIMHANS;viii. Prof. Virginius Xaxa, Visiting Professor at the Institute for Human Development (IHD), New Delhi;ix. Dr. Nidhi S Sabharwal, Associate Professor, Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education, National University of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi;x. Senior Advocate Aparna Bhat (as amicus curiae).The top court has directed the task force to identify predominant causes that lead to student suicides in higher educational institutions, including but not limited to ragging, caste-based discrimination, gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, academic pressure, financial burden, mental health related stigma, discrimination based on ethnicity, tribal identity, disability, sexual orientation, political views, religious belief or any other ground.The task force has also been ordered to analyse existing regulations and laws applicable to higher educational institutions on ragging, caste-based and gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment.The task force has further been asked to make recommendations to strengthen protections, propose necessary legal reforms to ensure their stronger enforcement and accountability, and to suggest measures to prevent student suicides. "Task Force shall have the authority to conduct surprise inspections of any Higher Educational Institution. Additionally, the Task Force shall 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," the Court added. .The Court has ordered the task force to present an interim report within four months and a final report thereafter, preferably within eight months..[Read Judgment]