HYDERABAD: Was it regional bias against a student from rural south India that forced Nalgonda girl Saale Madhuri to end her life in IIT-Kanpur earlier this week? Her family and relatives said Madhuri was under tremendous pressure as she faced taunts from other students.
Mother Shantamma said her daughter had been a bright student right from her school days. Ruling out that her daughter could not take the pressure of exams, the reason cited by IIT-K authorities, Shantamma said: "Madhuri used to call me often expressing her desire to come back unable to take the harassment. But I kept goading her to finish her B Tech course," she said, crying inconsolably on phone.
Madhuri, 22, a final year student, hung herself to the ceiling in her hostel room two days ago. She was a meritorious student and studied in Navodaya School in Chalakurti town up to Intermediate. "After the death of my husband three years ago, it was difficult to run the family. We went through a tough time, but Madhuri pursued her education and cleared the IIT entrance test," Shantamma recalled. Shantamma is the upa sarpanch of Badulapuram panchayat near Avantipuram in Nalgonda. Her husband Venkateswarlu was a teacher in a deaf and dumb school in Avantipuram. Madhuri's younger brother Bharat is studying engineering in Hyderabad.
"We are all shocked to hear about Madhuri's death," sarpanch Madhar Yadav said. Sources said some relatives left for Kanpur on Thursday night to bring her body back. Shantamma was to accompany them but she was still in a state of shock and could not go.
The suicide of Madhuri is the eighth such incident at the prestigious institute in the past five years. Findings of inquiry committees, set up by the institute to ascertain the causes, have never been made public. A former student on condition of anonymity that though some students are made members of the inquiry committees, they are never called for any meetings. "Such committees are an eyewash, they are not even informed about the findings of the panel," he said.
Students admit that academic progression rules are stringent across all IITs. "A student from the south who may be brilliant is bound to struggle in the north-dominant set-up. But one should realise that IIT is not the end of the world," a student of Hyderabad pursuing his B Tech in IIT-Bombay told TOI on phone.
Earlier, IIT-K registrar Sanjeev Kashalkar said a three-member committee was set up to probe the circumstances that led to the suicide of the civil engineering student. He said Madhuri had an excellent academic record. "There was no inkling that she was suffering from depression," he said.
Kashalkar said the previous inquiry reports concluded that the students committed suicide as most of them were going through stress and anxiety as a result of parental pressure and career-related worries.
In January 2009, second year M Tech student G Suman, 24, hanged himself while in April 2008, first year B Tech student Prashant Kumar ended his life, followed by fourth year student Toya Chatterjee, who committed suicide in May. J Bharadwaj killed himself in April 2007, Abhilash Pillai took his life in November 2006, while Sailesh Sharma in April 2006 and Swapnil Bhaskar in Nov. 2005.
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