Congress Says Centre Withheld IIT Suicide Data, Flags SC/ST/OBC Share

The Congress on Tuesday accused the Union government of withholding information on student suicides at the Indian Institutes of Technology, alleging that more than half of those who died by suicide at the premier institutions over the past five years came from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes communities.

Party general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said the Ministry of Education had left suicide-related figures out of its reply to a parliamentary question he had raised. The question was to be tabled on December 8, 2025, and the response he received was vague and avoided specific numbers, he said in a post on X.

Mr. Venugopal said an Under Secretary in the Ministry had written to the IITs on December 1, 2025, seeking the relevant information, yet the data did not figure in the Minister's reply. He alleged that this showed a deliberate intent to conceal the extent of discrimination at elite government institutions.

His remarks followed a news report stating that 53 students had died by suicide at IITs over five years and that over 50% of them belonged to SC, ST and OBC communities.

Sahil Wakode's death

Mr. Venugopal tied the issue to the death of Sahil Wakode, a student from an SC community at IIT-Bombay, and demanded that the government explain why the data was not disclosed. He said that with Mr. Wakode's death having shocked the country, hiding such information made the government complicit in creating the atmosphere that led to the loss.

Kodikunnil Suresh, the party's Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha and a Dalit leader, also voiced concern over the student's death. "Sahil's life mattered. His dignity mattered. His family deserves truth, justice and accountability," Mr. Suresh said in a post on X.

The Congress demanded that the government make the data public and set out measures to address the concerns of students from marginalised communities at the IITs.