Inquest Cannot Replace FIR; Supreme Court Sets Up National Task Force on Student Suicides

Two B.Tech students of IIT Delhi, said in the complaints to belong to Scheduled Castes, were found dead in their hostel rooms on 08.07.2023 and 01.09.2023 (paras 3-4). The father of one and the brother of the other complained to the police, alleging caste-based discrimination by faculty members and others, and murder (paras 5-6, 37-38). The police held only an inquiry under Section 174 CrPC, concluded that both had died by suicide due to depression, and registered no FIR (paras 8-9). The Delhi High Court refused a writ of mandamus to register FIRs (paras 2, 11, 18).

An inquest under Section 174 CrPC only ascertains the apparent cause of an unnatural death; it is not an investigation to find the offenders (paras 26-28). Once information discloses a cognizable offence, the police must register an FIR under Section 154 and has no discretion to test its credibility first, as Bhajan Lal and Lalita Kumari hold (paras 32-34). The complaints alleging caste-based harassment disclosed cognizable offences (paras 37-39). Even if the police thought the allegations untrue, it could say so only after registering an FIR and investigating, and could then file a closure report (para 40). Suicide is not itself a cognizable offence, but abetment of suicide is (para 41). Section 18-A of the SC/ST (PoA) Act rules out a preliminary enquiry before registration (paras 42-43). Institutions must promptly lodge an FIR after a campus suicide, and the police must register it without delay (para 47). Pointing to ragging, academic pressure, caste discrimination and sexual harassment, the Court found the existing framework inadequate (paras 54, 57, 69). Universities act in loco parentis and must look after students' mental well-being (para 66).