IIT-Kanpur PhD scholar ends life by hanging in hostel room
Kanpur (UP), Feb 10 (PTI): A 24-year-old PhD scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology here ended his life by hanging himself from the ceiling of his hostel room on Monday, police said.
The incident came to light in the evening when calls made to Ankit Yadav (24), a Noida resident pursuing a PhD in chemistry, by his friends went unanswered.
Sensing trouble, Yadav's hostel mates informed the IIT-Kanpur authorities, who in turn alerted the police and rushed to the room, said Additional DCP (west) Vijendra Dwivedi.
"We received information about the suicide around 5 pm after which we along with local police arrived there. By the time police reached there, the IIT-Kanpur authorities had already taken out the body after breaking open the door and shot a video of it as evidence," the police officer told PTI.
A suicide note was found in the room in which Yadav stated that he took the extreme step of his own will and blamed nobody for it.
The police said a forensic team was called to collect evidence.
The exact reasons behind the suicide will only be revealed after a preliminary probe, Dwivedi told PTI, adding the body has been sent for post-mortem and the family members have also arrived at the institute.
In a statement, the institute said, "IIT-K mourns the tragic and untimely demise of Ankit Yadav, a PhD scholar in the Department of Chemistry, here today. Yadav was a promising research scholar who joined the institute in July 2024, with an UGC Fellowship."
The reason for the drastic step is uncertain at this stage, however, IIT-K is actively cooperating with the police and forensic team in the ongoing investigation, it said, adding the institute is committed to taking all necessary steps to prevent such unfortunate incidents.
On October 10 last year, 28-year-old PhD student Pragati Kharya ended her life by hanging herself from the ceiling hook inside her hostel room. On January 18, 29-year-old PhD student Priyanka Jaiswal who was pursuing a PhD in Chemical engineering allegedly committed suicide inside her hostel room.
On January 11, 2024, an MTech second-year student Vikas Kumar Meena (31) allegedly hanged himself from the ceiling fan in his IIT-Kanpur hostel room, reportedly after he was "temporarily" barred from continuing with his course. On December 19, 2023, postdoctoral researcher Pallavi Chilka (34) hanged herself from the ceiling fan of her hostel room.
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HC seeks mechanism on disclosure of complaints against judges after SC says no data maintained
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court sought suggestions for a framework to balance transparency and judicial independence on April 1, after the Supreme Court submitted that it does not maintain judge-specific data on complaints alleging corruption or misconduct.
The submission was made by Advocate Rukhmini Bobde. He appeared for the Supreme Court’s Central Public Information Officer, before Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav in a petition filed by journalist and RTI activist Saurav Das. The case concerns an RTI application filed by Das in April 2023 seeking information on whether any complaints had been received against Justice T. Raja, former Acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, and if so, the number of such complaints and action taken.
According to a detailed report published by The Wire, the CPIO declined the request and stated that the information was “not maintained in the manner as sought for.” The first appellate authority upheld the decision. Although the Central Information Commission remanded the matter, the CPIO reaffirmed the refusal on similar grounds, which led Das to move the high court through Advocate Prashant Bhushan.
At the hearing, Justice Kaurav observed that the issue had wider institutional implications. It directed both sides to propose a mechanism that would protect the reputation of judges while ensuring public access to information regarding the handling of complaints. The case, Saurav Das v. CPIO, Supreme Court of India has been listed for further hearing on May 7.
During the arguments, Bhushan cited numbers released by the Union Law Ministry in Parliament in February 2026, which said that 8,630 complaints had been filed against sitting judges between 2016 and 2025. The Supreme Court provided data showing that complaints increased from 729 in 2016 to 1,102 in 2025. Bhushan questioned how aggregate data could be calculated without identifying the judges against whom complaints were filed.
Bobde responded that the data shared with Parliament reflected only total complaints against all sitting judges and did not involve judge-wise categorisation. She referred to the RTI request as a "fishing and roving inquiry." She also claimed that the Registry could not be forced to spend resources to collect material that was not stored in the format sought. She referenced the 2019 Constitution Bench decision in Supreme Court of India v. Subhash Chandra Agarwal, which allows for rejection if compliance will disproportionately divert resources, as her justification.
The high court questioned how no judge-specific information was maintained and expressed concern that disclosure of large aggregate figures without clarity on how complaints were handled could affect public perception. Justice Kaurav noted that an applicant could not be denied information solely on technical grounds relating to format.
Bhushan argued that the RTI request did not seek details of complaint contents or collegium deliberations but merely whether complaints were received and what action followed, submitting that transparency in the handling of complaints was essential to maintain public confidence.
The Supreme Court’s in-house procedure for examining complaints, adopted in 1999, provides for scrutiny by the Chief Justice of India and, where warranted, inquiry by a committee of judges. There is no statutory requirement for public reporting of outcomes.
