New Delhi: While students continue to voice dissatisfaction on campus and social media over measures taken following the death of a student, IIT Delhi’s reconstituted external inquiry committee has been given two weeks to submit its report, institute officials said.The committee will be chaired by Justice Mukta Gupta, a retired judge of Delhi High Court. Its members include Pratap Sharan, head of the department of psychiatry at AIIMS, four student representatives and IIT Delhi registrar, who will serve as secretary and convener. The panel was reconstituted after former Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar, who was initially named its chair, recused himself, citing prior commitments.The development comes as the protest on campus continues, although participation has reduced and students have resumed attending classes. “The number of people who had initially shown up has now reduced,” a student said. The student added that the movement was largely spontaneous in the absence of student organisations leading it, making its future course difficult to predict. “In other institutes, there are student organisations that lead such movements. Here, it is the students and their sentiments that are taking it forward.”Some students, however, remain sceptical about whether developments following the death will result in broader institutional changes. “As a student, I don’t feel very hopeful that this protest will change something in a deeper way at IIT,” the student said, expressing concern that the immediate outcome could instead be tighter security and restrictions on campus that will create a problem for them. The student claimed that several gates had been closed and entry restricted.Students have also pointed to an open house held following another student death in 2023, where, according to them, concerns were raised about faculty behaviour and what some participants described as an authoritarian approach towards students. “Whatever was the summary of that open house never came out and no steps were taken,” the student alleged. The student also expressed apprehension about a possible “witch-hunt”, claiming that some protesters were being labelled on the basis of their academic streams.IIT Delhi, meanwhile, Thursday said it had implemented several measures over the years to strengthen student well-being, academic flexibility and grievance redressal. It cited curriculum changes introduced in 2025, including lighter first-semester credit loads, life-skills courses, smaller first-year departmental classes and efforts to minimise weekend examinations. The minimum CGPA requirement for a BTech degree was removed from the 2024-25 academic year, it said.The institute said its mental-health infrastructure includes round-the-clock support from counsellors and psychiatrists, including experts from AIIMS and VIMHANS, reimbursement for external treatment, emergency-response protocols and Academic Unit Wellness Committees.
