Suicide and the burden of social responsibility

Hindustan Times

a day ago

The recent pronouncement by the Supreme Court in Sukdeb Saha v. The State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors. (2025 INSC 893) transcends the confines of a mere legal dispute; it serves as an urgent call for introspection. While directly addressing the tragic death of 17-year-old girl who enrolled in a coaching student preparing for the NEET examination at Aakash Byju's Institute, Vishakhapatnam, the judgment is structured into two primary parts. Part A addresses the specific factual circumstances of X's death and the investigation, while Part B delves into the broader societal issue of student suicides and proposes interim guidelines observing with gravitas that the very "soul of education appears to have been distorted". The Court critiques the contemporary academic paradigm, especially the rigorous competitive examination systems, for fostering a "high-stakes race" where the "joy of learning" is supplanted by "anxiety over rankings", and "failure" is perceived "as a devastating end". The court further lamented that instead of fostering "dignity, confidence, and purpose," education has transformed into a 'pressure-laden path toward narrowly defined goals of achievement, status, and economic security," replacing the "joy of learning" with "anxiety over rankings, results, and relentless performance metrics". Vaccination (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
The Court emphasised that mental health is an integral component of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, reinforced by India's international human rights obligations. It alludes to philosophical insights from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Émile and Jiddu Krishnamurti's Education and the Significance of Life to underscore that true education should be holistic, nurturing reason, autonomy, emotional well-being, and integrated intelligence, rather than fostering fear, competition, or conformity. The current system, the Court argues, is a tragic deviation from these ideals.
The disturbing statistics cited in the judgement from the NCRB Accidental Deaths and Suicides report, 2022 are a grim testament to this crisis: India recorded approximately 13,044 student suicides in 2022, with 2,248 attributed directly to examination failure. This number has more than doubled from 5,425 in 2001 to 13,044 in 2022. The Court reiterated the phrase "suicide epidemic" given in Amit Kumar & Ors. vs Union of India & Ors. (2025 INSC 384) to describe this alarming rise, attributing a majority of these deaths to "unbearable pressure imposed upon students by institutional and societal expectations".
Emile Durkheim, the French sociologist and pioneer in the study of suicide, argued that suicide is a social fact shaped by collective forces rather than individual pathology alone. In India, several key social factors contribute significantly to suicide trends, including the disintegration of families, weakening of social bonds, the isolation that often accompanies urbanisation, property disputes, medical illness, examination stress, and failure in romantic relationships.
The Union Government had taken several preventive measures to address student suicides. In 2023, the ministry of education released the UMMEED Guidelines to sensitise schools and identify at-risk students and launched MANODARPAN under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Yojna to provide mental health support through helplines, counselling, and digital resources. The National Suicide Prevention Strategy (2022), introduced by the ministry of health, adopted a multi-sectoral approach focused on youth. Responding to rising student suicides, especially in hubs like Kota and Hyderabad, the Supreme Court directed the formation of a National Task Force on Student Mental Health, chaired by Justice (retd) Ravindra Bhat, to identify root causes and recommend reforms. The Court, invoking Article 21, recognised mental health as integral to the right to life, dignity, and autonomy. The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 further decriminalised suicide attempts, presuming severe stress and mandating State care and rehabilitation instead of punishment.
India's obligations under international frameworks such as International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and WHO's Mental Health Action Plan reinforced its duty to protect mental health. However, despite these efforts, a unified and enforceable national framework for student suicide prevention remained absent making urgent, coordinated action imperative, especially in high-stress educational environments.
Recognising a legislative and regulatory vacuum and the urgency of the crisis, the Court, drawing parallels with the Vishaka Guidelines, issued interim guidelines under Article 32 read with 141 of the Constitution to establish a preventive, remedial, and supportive framework for mental health protection and suicide prevention across all educational institutions. These guidelines include mandates directing all educational institutions in India including schools, colleges, universities, coaching centres, and hostels, regardless of affiliation, to adopt uniform mental health policies; appointment of qualified counsellors in establishments with over 100 students, optimal student-to-counsellor ratios and mentorship during academic transitions; prohibition of unethical academic practices like batch segregation and public shaming; prominent display of suicide helpline numbers; inclusive engagement with marginalised students; confidential grievance mechanisms for harassment and bullying with accountability for institutional inaction; regular parental sensitisation programmes; and a focus on holistic development through extracurricular activities and exam reforms to reduce academic pressure.
Suicide is a mirror held up to society, reflecting the deepest anxieties and failures that a person faces. This advocates for a call to action for policymakers, so that through interventions, a deeper connection, compassion, and a sense of community can be formed trying to heal the social fabric and bring hope to those who feel most alone. It also calls for the promotion of teaching well-being and happiness through education, empathy, emotional literacy, and destigmatised dialogue.
This article is authored by Jisu Ketan Pattanaik, assistant professor, sociology and Sumit Kumar Singh, research assistant, National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi.