GUWAHATI: IIT-Guwahati bans journalists from entering campus following the death of a 21-yr-old student.
Hundreds came out in protest at the institute on Monday against the suspected suicide of Binmalesh Kumar, a third-year Computer Science and Engineering student. His body was found hanging in his room at the Brahmaputra hostel.
The incident had deeply angered the students, who blamed strict attendance rules by the institute's authorities and maintained that there was a burden of too much academic pressure.
The journalists were not being allowed to enter the campus during the ongoing protest to cover the event.
The institute authorities requested the media persons to avoid the campus by assuring them that it was treating the situation as top priority. They also said that the media would soon be invited on the campus for meeting the director on the issue.
Since Tuesday evening, media personnel arriving at the IIT-Guwahati campus, which is situated on the outskirts of the city, were being turned back by the institute's private security guards at the main entrance.
The institute authorities also refused to entertain any queries from journalists.
However, in a statement at noon on Wednesday from its media cell, the institute introduced new measures that were aimed at improving the wellbeing of the student community.
The students, who held a massive protest after a third-year B.Tech student's body was found hanging in the IIT Guwahati hostel room, claimed on Tuesday that the "toxic environment" created in the name of academic excellence in the premier institution led to his death.
Students of the technological institute took out a candlelight protest today. In fact, the students of the institute have been in an agitating mood after the incident.
Monday's suicide was the third case of student suicide which occurred on the campus this year. On August 9, the body of a 23-year-old M. Tech student at the institute was discovered in her dorm room.
She was a native of Uttar Pradesh. Also this April, a 20-year-old B.Tech student from Bihar was found dead in his hostel room; the death was suspected to be a suicide.
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