On September 18, Sahil Wakode, a B.Tech student at IIT-Bombay (IIT-B), was found dead on the campus. This was the third suicide or unnatural death at IIT-B this year. Deaths have also happened on the campuses of IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Guwahati, among others. In the last five years, there have been at least 53 suicides/unnatural deaths at the IITs. Between January 1 and September 18, 2026, 13 student suicides or unnatural deaths have been recorded on different IIT campuses, according to the Global IIT Alumni Support Group’s dataset. This amounts to roughly on average, a student death on an IIT campus every five weeks.

Over the years, there have been multiple allegations by parents of students who died, particularly from marginalised castes, of structural casteism and discrimination that led to their deaths. In most cases, internal inquiries at IITs predictably find no evidence of any wrongdoing. Deaths are frequently attributed to mental health issues and pressures from deteriorating academic performances.

This raises a larger question about the pedagogy and academic culture at the IITs, if that is leading to such rates of student mortality.

In truth, most IIT professors, administrators, and indeed alumni, take pride in the intense academic pressures at the institute, with many crediting it for forging tough individuals. There is, however, no empirical evidence to support this claim that correlates such a toxic, demanding culture with academic excellence. An educational institution should not be seen as a military bootcamp, especially in a country where incoming students come from diverse backgrounds.

Caste-based affirmative quotas for admission are meant to bring students from historically underrepresented and marginalised communities into the IITs and provide pathways for upward mobility and human resource development. Students from rural and small-town backgrounds, often first-generation learners from regional medium schools, need handholding and mentorship to blossom. Instead, they are deemed weak and non-meritorious, unfit to carry the mantle of being an IIT-ian.

In doing so, the IIT system abandons its prerogative to be a nurturing hub, developing the talents of students from India’s vast and diverse demography. Rather, it fashions itself as an ‘agni-pareeksha’ to filter out the students who need the most support.

This situation is complicated by the lopsided caste composition of IIT faculty cohorts. Despite constitutional mandates, no IIT is even close to compliance when it comes to hiring SC/ST/Other Backward Classes (OBC) faculty.

At IIT-Bombay itself, for instance, there are only six OBC professors, five SC professors, and zero ST professors from among a cohort of 412 professors. While numbers are marginally better at the junior levels of associate and assistant professors, the administrative core, dominated by senior faculty, leans heavily towards Savarna castes. This invites allegations that the overall IIT culture is deeply Brahminical in essence and casteist towards students and scholars from marginalised communities.

Caste of Merit written by Professor Ajantha Subramanian, then a Professor at Harvard University, underlines this precisely. Her close examination of the culture at IIT-Madras reveals how ‘upper-caste’ advantages appear invisible while marginalised caste vulnerabilities get highlighted as evidence of a lack of merit within such a system.

Multiple Ambedkarite and anti-caste scholars and activists have also corroborated these types of findings through testimonies of lived experiences and documentation of normalised othering. At the very least, it suggests a contested campus culture and not a neutral one. It thus complicates any chance of institutional investigations being taken at face value.

In Wakode’s case, it has been alleged that he was caught cheating in an exam — and died by suicide while awaiting action. The premature declaration (later retracted) confirming cheating by the student, the faculty demonstrations in support of the accused, Professor Satyanarayan Doolla, the CCTV footage provided to news media channels for on-air coverage, and a live media trial, all while the official investigation is still ongoing against the backdrop of a caste imbalance in the faculty ratio, do not inspire confidence in a fair and neutral inquiry.

As polarised narratives spin out of control on social media, it would be instructive for IITs to look beyond this particular incident and reflect on their larger academic culture, partial inquiries, and persistent allegations of structural casteism. Deaths on the IIT campuses are not just a national shame; they are a loss of talent for the nation. An urgent and honest self-introspection is needed.

(Ravikant Kisana is an academic and the author of Meet the Savarnas. The views expressed are personal)

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