Student’s Death Forces IIT Delhi to Shut Down Classes: Student Protesters Demand Rs. 1 Crore Compensation for the Victim’s Family

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A 31-YEAR-OLD, Rishikesh Kumar of MSc Physics died on Saturday, August 22, 2026, after he fell from the sixth floor of the Lecture Hall Complex on campus. After the incident, the students decided to protest against Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi on Monday, August 24, 2026. Classes were shut down due to the protests.

A questionable death as the victim has not left a suicide note for the police to rule the case as a suicide case. The protest began peacefully but turned chaotic after some time. The classes stopped for the day. Students stopped reporters from entering the premises and said there would be no such business as usual until the administration came in front to hear their demands out loud. Students demanded a sum of Rs. 1 crore to be paid as compensation to Rishikesh’s parents. 

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Kumar Struggled with Personal Problems, Delhi Police Heard A Distress Call

Before Kumar’s death, students claimed that he struggled with a few personal problems that included proper hostel housing, the institute denied his academic projects, and the Student Affairs Office made an unfair “moral profiling” on Kumar. Kumar felt left out by the institute.

Delhi police recorded a distress call that was made around 8:33 am on August 22, 2026. Before he fell to his death, Kumar entered the campus through the main gate around 8 in the morning and took the elevator to the sixth floor of the Lecture Hall Complex. After that, he was rushed to the hospital which belonged to the institute but it was too late for the doctors to save him.

The students are asking for an independent inquiry into everything that has happened before Kumar’s death which includes the housing problems and the handling of the emergency in the campus hospital. They are also questioning the involvement of the Student Counselling Services, the Associate Dean of Student Welfare, the Dean of Student Affairs, and also the Director where such students needed mental health support.

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Protests Took a Turn, While Students Demand Compensation

The students have come up with a long list of demands, from the resignation of the Dean and Associate Deans of Student Welfare, Academic and Hostel Management, alongside the Head of the Physics Department. Among their demands include an amount of Rs. 1 crore as compensation to be paid to Kumar’s family. This particular demand was added at the last minute by the students in the heat of the moment as written in their statement. They added more to their demands. Students who were part of the protest must not be punished by the college.

Their demands increased on Monday, when they asked the classes to be shut down for the whole day. The reason was simple. No academic activity should carry on at this hour of a student’s death. Student protesters claimed that eight students of IIT Delhi have committed suicide over the last 30 months, but such details need to be checked from the institute’s official records and the police. 

But the protest didn’t just stay limited to the students of IIT Delhi but also the members of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Students Union held their own protest outside the campus on Monday, August 24, 2026. Their motto was described as “institutional negligence.” Questioned Kumar’s academic project denial and asked for a review on administrative decisions. The All India Students Association joined them on the same day, asking the institute to come out clean on their decision-making process that affects students’ academic careers and access to counselling.

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