IIT Delhi warns students of disciplinary action amid suicide protests

IIT Delhi has warned students of disciplinary action as protests over an MSc student's death intensified on campus. The standoff has sharpened demands for an independent inquiry while raising tensions over protest conduct.

In Short

• Demonstrations on campus continued for a sixth consecutive day amid unrest
• Director Rangan Banerjee alleged protesters reached faculty housing late Thursday night
• He said threatening slogans disturbed families, children and elderly residents

IIT Delhi Director Rangan Banerjee has warned of disciplinary action against students accused of disrupting the peaceful functioning of the campus during protests over the alleged suicide of a 31-year-old MSc student. The warning came as demonstrations entered their sixth straight day and tensions rose over events on Thursday night.

In an email to students on Friday, Banerjee said the protest had "escalated significantly" and reached campus residential areas. He said a group of protesters demonstrated outside faculty housing between 10.30 pm and 12.30 am and used "unsavoury, humiliating and threatening language in their slogans".

"Such behaviour compromises the safety, privacy, and peace of faculty members and their families, including young children and elderly dependents," he said. Banerjee added that the institute would act against those disrupting campus life. "The Institute will take disciplinary actions against individuals disrupting the peaceful functioning of the campus including residential areas, classes, academic and other activities," he wrote.

The protests began after the death of the student, who allegedly died by suicide after jumping from a building on the institute's campus on August 22. Students have been demanding an independent inquiry, action against institute officials and compensation for his family.

On Thursday, IIT Delhi reconstituted the external probe panel set up to examine the circumstances surrounding the student's death, appointing retired Delhi High Court judge Mukta Gupta as its head. The move came a day after former Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar, who had been named chair of the panel, recused himself from the committee citing "personal reasons", even as protests continued on campus. The developments have unfolded alongside the continuing student agitation and the institute's warning of disciplinary action over conduct during the demonstrations.

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