A PhD student at IIT Kanpur has died by suicide The body of the student recognized as Prasant Singh was found hanging in his hostel room. The student was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, the IIT informed. The reason of death is not yet known. The police are still investigating the matter.
The IIT has said in its statement that the institute has “explained the untimely and unfortunate demise of Ph.D. student”. The institute said they have “lost a talented student and aspiring scientist”.
The student’s room was locked from the inside. After knocking repeatedly on the door when there was no answer, fellow students reached security. The IIT authorities said that when they forcibly opened the door, they saw Singh hanging from a ceiling fan. The student was then taken to the institute’s health center where he was pronounced dead.
The number of students dying by suicide has reached an all-time high in India. Last year, top institute IISc removed ceiling fans from hostel rooms to curb suicide.
Prasant Singh was a researcher in the mechanical engineering department. He enrolled at IIT Kanpur in 2019 for a master’s degree and later enrolled in Ph.D. for 2021.
In India, at least one student commits suicide every hour. According to the NCRB’s 2020 Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) report, approximately 8.2% of students in the country die by suicide.
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