A student’s death and the caste debate at IIT Bombay
A simple examination cheating case is ballooning into an acrimonious wrangle, taking on different caste hues, threatening to become an avalanche, engulfing educational institutions, the police, the media, and the legal fraternity, and will soon storm the hallowed portals of the judiciary.
A student sneaks a phone into an examination hall and uses it surreptitiously for cheating; an alert invigilator spots it, quietly takes possession of the incriminating accessory, and the student quietly exits the exam hall. Such transgressions, quite routine in many exam halls across the country, have, however, created a storm in a teacup in IIT-B. The student, Sahil Wakode, committed suicide hours after he was caught using a mobile phone to solve a question paper and get answers via ChatGPT during an examination.
Professor Suryanarayana Doolla vs Sahil Wakode is brewing into a rancorous battle about caste reservations, privileges and immunities. Sahil Wakode’s hasty suicide in his hostel room has morphed into a caste war.
Official nationwide data for total student suicides specifically covering the full year of 2025 has not yet been published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) via its Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) report.
However, available reports and institutional figures provide partial context:
The latest published NCRB data shows student suicides reached 14,488 in 2024. Official IIT data submitted to the Union Education Ministry noted that 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) reported 13 student suicides during the 2024–25 academic/ calendar tracking period, part of 45 total suicides across IITs over a five-year span.
But Sahil Wakode’s case is being projected as a case of caste-based discrimination.
The Powai Police registered an FIR on the complaint of Sahil’s parents under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita, which deals with abetment of suicide, and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as the student was a Dalit. Police had first registered an accidental death report because no suicide note was found, and widened the case after the family’s complaint.
In his complaint, Ravindra Wakode, father of Sahil Wakode, accused Professor Suryanarayana Doolla of the Energy Science Department of the institute of making “casteist remarks” against his son and threatening to implicate him in a case, without a shred of evidence.
However, IIT Director Shireesh Kedare denied the allegations of caste-based discrimination. The institute has said Sahil did not ever file any caste-discrimination complaint with either its SC/ST Cell or the administration.
IIT Bombay has removed Doolla from the post of Dean (Administrative Affairs).
Students protesting on campus have claimed that Sahil was under severe pressure and had faced threats of suspension. Sahil’s death is the third reported suicide at IIT Bombay in seven months. A second-year student died by suicide in a hostel in February, and a 20-year-old second-year BTech student died by suicide in July. A total of 171 students died by suicide at IITs across the country between 2006 and 2026.
A standoff between students and IIT officials entered a new phase after the institute administration agreed to take forward an 18-point charter placed by protesting students. Director Professor Shireesh Kedare signed the document following a prolonged meeting with students who had been holding a sit-in near the campus main gate for three days.
Politicians and media have inveigled themselves into the brewing caste war, worsening the acrimony.
In March 2022 (following a January 2022 police raid), the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) officially cancelled the GMAT scores of 108 Indian candidates (out of 133 globally) following the bust of a major proxy-testing and cheating ring by Delhi Police. “Based on advanced forensics and proprietary security tools, we have overwhelming evidence to cancel these candidates’ scores for serious policy violations, which include proxy test-taking (someone else taking the test on the candidate’s behalf). These test-takers not only had their recent scores cancelled but were also banned from future testing with GMAC, and any previous exam scores were also cancelled. Schools to which scores had been sent by these candidates have been notified of their use of unfair means,” the US-based GMAC said. Not a word of protest from any student body, no casteist angle to be touted by any parent or political party. The shame and opprobrium that India’s students have heaped upon themselves is saddening.
Copying, cheating, and paper leaks in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) have transformed India’s premier medical entrance test into a focal point of systemic examination scandals. Incidents ranging from individual high-tech malpractices to institutional leaks orchestrated by sophisticated syndicates have repeatedly compromised the integrity of the test. The culprits were unscrupulous parents and their pampered children, wanting to selfishly grab benefits, for which they were unwilling to burn the midnight oil.
The same is the case in this IIT copying episode. Clandestinely sneaking a mobile phone into the examination hall, using it surreptitiously to gain undue advantage over his student colleagues, who were observing rectitude and diligence. Does it speak highly of his conduct?
But when he got caught, he had the dignity to hand over the offending accessory to the invigilator, without a murmur. Later, he spoke to his girlfriend at around 2:30 PM. During the call, he told her that he had made a mistake and appeared to be under stress.
“Mujhse galti ho gayi hai [I have made a mistake,” Sahil Wakode told his girlfriend, according to the police account. He also spoke about his earlier thermodynamics paper and said, “My earlier thermodynamics paper didn’t go well, and now this has happened.”
The unfortunate boy did not dare to own up to his indiscretion, and to cover up the shameful act, chose to commit suicide. Committing suicide to atone for copying has happened many a time in the past. But invoking the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against an invigilator, who was only doing his duty, has serious ramifications for India’s education landscape.
The time has come for all right-thinking people to ponder whether India wants a system of caste-based education, invigilation, and evaluation. Indiscretions, violations, and inappropriate actions- do they need to be assessed based on caste considerations? By enacting the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, have our politicians misled us into a Chakravyuha?
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.
- India’s great internal caste wars - September 24, 2026
- Clarion call for antediluvianism - September 7, 2026
- CJP masquerading as Gen Z - August 26, 2026
