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Peek TV | September 21, 2026
No Room To Breathe: The Indian Campus On Edge
The Fact: A 22-year-old IIT Bombay student, Sahil Wakode, died by suicide hours after he was allegedly caught using a phone during an examination. IIT Bombay said that he uploaded the exam paper to ChatGPT, seeking answers. However, the institute denies that any disciplinary action had been initiated. Wakode, a second-year BTech student in the Energy Science and Engineering department, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his hostel room. Meanwhile, a professor has been booked for abetment to suicide and under the SC/ST Act after Sahil’s father alleged months of caste-based harassment.
The Context: The circumstances remain disputed. IIT Bombay says Sahil was counselled by his instructor and department head and was assured the incident would not affect his academic standing. His father alleges that a professor repeatedly used casteist slurs against him and threatened him over three months. The FIR names Professor Suryanarayan Dulla, while the investigation has been transferred to the Mumbai Crime Branch. In seven months, this is the third reported case of suicide at the IIT Bombay campus in Powai. An RTI-based dataset recorded 65 IIT student suicides between 2021 and 2025, rising from nine in 2021 to 15 in 2025. The recent IIT Delhi student death has added to concerns about hostel access, isolation, and student support. The government and UGC have pushed counselling mechanisms across higher education, but students continue to report stigma, distrust, and fear of academic consequences when seeking help.
The Peek Insight: The problem is not just IITs. The larger issue here seems to be why students like Sahil do not get the help they need until it is too late. Are Indian campuses doing enough to recognise when a student is struggling? Are discipline and institutional control overshadowing students’ right to question, protest, or ask for help? The tragedy at IIT Bombay has raised questions that go beyond whether a student violated examination rules. No single campus interaction can explain á student suicide, but student welfare cannot begin only when the worst has happened.
