The National Task Force (NTF) constituted by the Supreme Court to address student suicides and mental well-being in higher education institutions on Friday (August 8, 2025) launched a website hosting five surveys to gather inputs from stakeholders, including students, parents, faculty, mental health professionals, and members of the public.
The NTF was set up earlier this year in the context of student suicides across premier institutions, after parents of several students who had died by suicide — including those of IIT Delhi’s Ayush Ashna and Anil Kumar, both from Scheduled Caste backgrounds — approached the court seeking directions on caste discrimination, institutional support mechanisms, and administrative responses. The petitioners also included the families of Dalit students Rohith Vemula (2016) and Payal Tadvi (2019). The court constituted the task force in March.
