IIT-Madras Scholar's Suicide: 5-Member Committee To Probe Incident

 The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has constituted a five-member committee to probe into the suicide of a research scholar of the institute on March 31, 2023. The five-member inquiry committee constituted on Tuesday is headed by former Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP), G Thilakavathi. Students protested in the campus alleging that researcher had committed suicide following harassment by a faculty member. The registrar of IIT-Madras in an email to the students said that a committee headed by former Tamil Nadu DGP, Tilakavathi has been constituted on the allegations in the suicide death of Sachin Kumar Jain who was a research scholar in Mechanical Engineering department.

The victim's brother had in a complaint to the institute stated that his brother was harassed by a faculty member. The other committee members are former IAS officers D Sabitha, Kannegi Packianathan, Professor Ravindra Gattu who is a faculty in the institute and Amal Manoharan, who is a research scholar at IIT-Madras. The registrar in the mail said, "Students who want to depose before the committee can contact the research scholar member of the committee and faculty who want to depose can contact the faculty member."

A Joint Action Committee (JAC) has also submitted a memorandum to the IIT- Madras director demanding an unbiased inquiry into the suicide of the research scholar and also demanded inclusion of external members in the committee. The JAC has also demanded the suspension of the research guides and his academic activities during the probe.