IIT Bombay installs wall-mounted fans following student suicide

Days after 20-year-old Sahil Wakode died by suicide at IIT Bombay, a photograph of dozens of wall-mounted fans has surfaced on social media, prompting chatter that the institute is planning to replace ceiling fans in hostels. The chatter finds spark amid several cases involving student suicides and renewed scrutiny over student mental health and suicide prevention measures after Sahil's death.

There is no official confirmation that IIT Bombay is considering replacing ceiling fans with wall-mounted ones. It is also unclear whether the picture was taken on the IIT Bombay campus. When contacted for comment, the IIT Bombay administration neither confirmed nor denied the reports.

Sahil Wakode, a native of Yavatmal district, was found dead in his hostel room hours after he was allegedly found with a mobile phone during a mid-semester examination. Professor Suryanarayana Doolla, who found Sahil with a phone, has been removed from his deanship. His death has led to students’ protests on the IIT Bombay campus, who seek accountability as well as sweeping reforms on campus, especially around academic pressure and the mental health of the students.

'Cosmetic band-aid': NCP (SP) leader NCP (SP) spokesperson Anish Gawande has criticised it in a social media post. He said, "This is a bizarre, cosmetic band-aid that targets the mechanism of tragedy while willfully ignoring why our brightest minds are driven to despair. The structural crisis across our premier institutes is devastating: data shows at least 171 IIT students have suffered unnatural deaths over the last 20 years, with 82% occurring on campus." "Nationally, student suicides have climbed to nearly 14,500 annually.

Instead of treating this as a public health emergency, the issue is being unnecessarily politicised. Experts repeatedly stress that all outrage is pointless if institutes refuse to dismantle the actual root causes: extreme academic pressure, lack of counseling infrastructure, and institutional alienation," he said.