The death of a 22-year-old student of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) by suicide has triggered widespread agitation among students, who have stated that several such incidents have occurred in the recent past.

Students have claimed that this is the third death of a student by suicide in a span of seven months. The incident occurred on September 18, following which students staged a protest the next day.

The incident occurred a few hours after the student, Sahil Wakode, was caught uploading an examination paper to ChatGPT and seeking responses from it. The premier institute, however, claimed that even after the student was caught in the act, he was only spoken to by a counsellor and reassured that the incident would not affect his academic career.

Meanwhile, the student’s family has claimed that the institute harassed and threatened him with consequences that could have resulted in him losing an academic year, which drove him to take the extreme step. The police have registered a case of abetment to suicide following the family’s claims.

On Saturday, a student body comprising over 400 students staged a protest inside the IIT Bombay campus over Wakode’s death. Contrary to the institute’s claims, students alleged that the institute’s authorities had threatened Wakode with a one-year suspension, which could have required him to leave the hostel and stay outside the campus.

Students were agitated that the administration had not disclosed all details surrounding the circumstances of the student’s death and had attempted to suppress the matter.

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