Order of the Supreme Court in the matter of student suicides in higher educational institutions, 24/03/2025
Order of the Supreme Court in the matter of Amit Kumar & Others Vs Union of India & Others dated 24/03/2025. The matter related to recurring instances of student suicides in higher educational institutions.
The bench comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice R M Mahadevan said that the student suicides "serve as a grim reminder of the inadequacy and ineffectiveness of the existing legal and institutional framework in addressing mental health concerns of students on campuses and to prevent the students from taking the extreme step of committing suicides". These tragedies underscore the urgent need for a more robust, comprehensive and responsive mechanism to address the various factors which compel certain students to resort to taking their own lives.
To address the concerns, the SC directed the constitution of a National Task Force.
The task force has been entrusted to prepare a comprehensive report that includes identification of the predominant causes which lead to commission of suicides by students. The task force would also analyse existing regulations and give recommendations for strengthening protections. In the process of preparing its report, the task force would have the authority to conduct surprise inspections of any higher educational institution.
The task force would be at liberty to make further recommendations beyond the specified mandate, wherever necessary "to ensure a holistic and effective approach towards addressing mental health concerns of students and eliminating the incidence of suicides in higher educational institutions". The task force has been asked to present an interim report within four months and the final report within eight months.