IIT Delhi Director Warns Of Action Over Midnight Protests Seeking Probe Into Student’s Death

IIT Delhi Director Rangan Banerjee has warned of disciplinary action against students holding demonstrations over the death of 31-year-old MSc Physics student Rishikesh Kumar. Students marched across the campus between 10.30 PM and 12.30 AM on Thursday, demanding accountability and a transparent probe into the death, as India Today reported.

During the midnight march, protesting students moved through the campus and urged faculty members to come out of their residences and stand in solidarity with them.

In an email sent on Friday evening, Banerjee said the situation had escalated significantly on Thursday night when protesters entered residential areas between 10.30 PM and 12.30 AM. He said demonstrations were held outside faculty residences and that some slogans were humiliating and threatening.

The director said such behaviour compromised the safety, privacy and peace of faculty members and their families.

“The Institute will take disciplinary action against individuals disrupting the peaceful functioning of the campus, including residential areas, classes, academic and other activities,” Banerjee wrote, according to ANI.

New Inquiry Panel Formed

The institute has appointed retired Delhi High Court judge Mukta Gupta as the new chairperson of the external inquiry panel examining Kumar’s death. She replaces former Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar, who stepped down citing personal reasons.

Banerjee said the external inquiry panel had begun functioning, while the police were also investigating the death.

The panel includes AIIMS Delhi psychiatry department head Pratap Sharan, two student representatives and the IIT Delhi Registrar. The institute said it had continued discussions with student representatives.

Banerjee also said financial assistance for Kumar’s family had been approved through the institute’s benevolent fund. A separate fund has been created through voluntary contributions from faculty, students and staff. The institute said an external ombudsperson would be appointed next week.

Welfare Measures Questioned

In a video message, Banerjee acknowledged that the institute’s existing measures to support students were “not enough” and said IIT Delhi needed to adopt different approaches to rebuild trust.

IIT Delhi has cited round-the-clock counselling, psychiatric support, emergency intervention mechanisms, mentorship programmes and peer-support initiatives as part of its student welfare framework.

The institute has also pointed to academic changes introduced in recent years, including a lighter first-semester workload, life-skills courses, smaller first-year classes and greater flexibility in credit distribution.

Students, however, have questioned how effectively these mechanisms work on the ground, arguing that several measures announced earlier have failed to bring visible changes.

They said the continuing protest was focused on accountability, transparency and institutional reforms following Kumar’s death. Some students have also expressed concern that disciplinary action could affect their academic careers and participation in placement activities.

One student said the director’s message could weaken the ongoing protest movement.