Sachin Kumar, a PhD student at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) and a native of West Bengal, had ended his life at his friend's house in Chennai on March 31, 2023.
In the latest development, the brother of the deceased has allegedly accused his (Sachin's) PhD supervisor or Guide for such an unprecedented move by the IIT-M student.
Sachin was a PhD research scholar at the mechanical engineering department at IIT Madras.
In a complaint by his brother, Bhavesh Jain, sent an e-mail to the Director, Dean, Registrar and other officials of the IIT Madras, in which he writes, "I have a complaint regarding my brother's death on March 31, Please consider this complaint and take actions against the people responsible."
In a hand written complaint shared by the twitter handle @AppscIITb, Bhavesh has allegedly accused deceased PhD guide, Ashish Kumar for the suicide of his brother.
He alleges inhumane treatment by his guide (PhD supervisor) as the reason for his suicide and demanded action against the people responsible.
In his complaint he alleged that on 31st March 2023, Sachin had a meeting with his guide in the morning, after which he returned home and put up a WhatsApp status "I am sorry, I am not good enough".
Sachin's brother alleges that his guide knew that Sachin was having mental health issues.
Bhavesh further alleges that despite knowing about his mental health, the guide was harassing him with disciplinary action, blocking his access to the lab and burdening him with extra work, which worsened his condition. He (Sachin) informed his family that his degree will be delayed as the guide was making him do more work.
In his handwritten note, he alleges that on 31 March, at 9 AM, Sachin left for his lab as he had a scheduled meeting with his guide. After the meeting ends he sat in a chair for some time and then left the lab at around 11:30 AM, at last he put the Whatsapp stuatus at 12:02 Noon.
According to the Police, his WhatsApp status message read “I am sorry, not good enough,” before he ended his life.
Bhavesh also revealed that his brother was on tranquilizers due to the mental health issues. he further alleged that his guide was also aware of this and had informed him (Bhavesh) about the medications.
@APPSC IIT Bombay, who shared the post says, "Harassment from faculties are normalised in IITs. There is no institutional support system for students to raise their grievances against faculty harassment and humiliation. Faculties need to be held accountable for their inhumane actions. Students should be treated with respect."
