IIT student suicides over religious discrimination

2019-11-09

Main Information

  • Victim Names Fathima Latheef
  • Date of Incident 2019-11-09
  • Nature of Violence Discrimination in educational institution
  • Causal factors Religious identity
  • Religion of Vicitim Muslims
  • Name of Perpetrator Sudarshan Padmanabhan, and others
  • State Tamil Nadu
  • City/District IIT Madras, Chennai, IIT Madras, Chennai
  • Party in Power AIADMK

Other Information

  • Location of Incident IIT Madras, Chennai
  • Perpetrator Organization Bajrag Dal
  • Place of incident N/A

On November 9, 2019, 19-year-old Fathima Latheef, First Year M.Sc. student in IIT Madras hanged herself in her hostel room alleging that humiliation and religious discrimination by some of her faculty members is what drove her to committing suicide. According to the suicide note retreived from her phone and tablet by the Chennai Police, Fathima mentioned the names of three of her professors- Sudarshan, Hemchandran, and Brahme who allegedly forced her into taking this extreme step