The Ministry of Education has constituted a three-member committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the alleged suicide of 20-year-old IIIT Ranchi student Aditya Kumar last week, with the inquiry set to examine campus facilities, counselling, mentoring and grievance redressal systems.
According to a statement issued by the Press Information Bureau, the committee will be headed by Rajni Abbi, director of Delhi University’s South Campus. A senior ministry official and a senior psychiatrist will serve as the other members.
The panel will examine the circumstances leading to Kumar’s death and review the availability and functioning of basic facilities at the institute. It will also assess the institutional support systems available to students, including counselling and mentoring arrangements, as well as the working of the institute’s grievance redressal mechanism.
The committee has been tasked with identifying shortcomings in the institute’s administration and recommending measures to strengthen student welfare and prevent similar incidents in the future. As part of the inquiry, it will interact with stakeholders and examine relevant records and documents.
The ministry’s decision follows continuing protests by IIIT Ranchi students over Kumar’s death. Students have demanded accountability from the institute’s administration and called for the resignation of its director, Rajeev Srivastava.
The inquiry places the institute’s student-support infrastructure at the centre of the official response. The scope announced by the ministry covers not only the circumstances surrounding the death but also the systems intended to help students raise concerns, access counselling and receive institutional support.
The ministry has also said that interim administrative arrangements are being put in place to ensure the smooth functioning of the institute while safeguarding the interests and welfare of students. The statement did not specify the nature or duration of those arrangements.
IIIT Ranchi operates under the public-private partnership model and is among the country’s institutes of national importance focused on information technology education and research. The committee’s findings and recommendations will determine what shortcomings, if any, are identified in the institute’s administration and student-welfare systems.
