Introduction
Recent data has brought renewed attention to the mental health and safety of students in higher educational institutions. According to official data from IIT. 53 students died across the Indian Institutes of Technology between 2020–21 and 2024–25. Of these, 45 deaths were recorded as suicides and eight as unnatural deaths. Students belonging to the SC, ST and OBC categories accounted for 29 deaths, or 54.7% of the total. The number of reported student deaths also increased from five in 2020–21 to 19 in 2024–25.
These figures, by themselves, do not establish that academic pressure, caste discrimination or any particular form of harassment caused an individual student’s death. However, they highlight why questions concerning student mental health, institutional responsibility, discrimination, harassment and access to support systems have become increasingly important in higher education. Reports discussing the data have also pointed to factors such as academic pressure, social isolation, limited faculty-student interaction and concerns relating to inclusion, while emphasising the need for stronger preventive support systems.
What If A School Teacher Mentally Harasses A Child?
For children covered by the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, Section 17 specifically prohibits physical punishment and mental harassment. The provision states that no child shall be subjected to physical punishment or mental harassment, and a person who contravenes the provision can face disciplinary action under the applicable service rules. This protection is particularly relevant where a child faces humiliation, degrading treatment or other conduct by school authorities or teachers. The scope of Section 17 needs to be understood carefully because the RTE Act primarily operates within its statutory framework for elementary education. Students outside its scope may still have protection under other laws, constitutional principles, school rules and applicable criminal provisions.
What If Students Bully Or Rag A Classmate?
Bullying by students can become particularly serious when it involves repeated humiliation, threats, physical abuse, sexual conduct or disruption of academic activities. For higher educational institutions, the UGC Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions, 2009 provide specific protections. The regulations cover conduct that causes or is likely to cause physical or psychological harm, fear, shame, torment or embarrassment to another student. They also cover physical abuse, sexual abuse, public insults, conduct affecting a student’s mental health and self-confidence, and acts that interfere with regular academic activity. Therefore, ragging is not limited to physical violence. Conduct that causes psychological harm or seriously affects a student’s mental health can also fall within the regulatory framework. Depending on the conduct, separate criminal offences may also arise under applicable law.
What If The Harassment Is Based On Caste?
Caste-based discrimination in educational institutions can involve both institutional grievance mechanisms and, in appropriate cases, criminal law. The UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012, which are currently the operative equity regulations while the 2026 regulations remain in abeyance, address discrimination, harassment and victimisation in higher educational institutions. The 2012 framework recognises discrimination based on grounds including caste, creed, religion, language, ethnicity, gender and disability and also addresses harassment and victimisation based on caste and other listed grounds. The UGC (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations, 2023 also recognise complaints concerning alleged discrimination against SC, ST, OBC, women, minorities and persons with disabilities, along with student harassment or victimisation and certain unfair academic practices.
Where the student belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, conduct may additionally attract provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, if the specific statutory ingredients are satisfied. For example, the Act contains offences concerning intentionally insulting or intimidating an SC or ST member in a place within public view and intentionally abusing an SC or ST member by caste name in a place within public view. A caste-related complaint does not automatically become an offence under the SC/ST Act. The particular conduct, identity of the victim, circumstances and statutory requirements have to be established.
What If A Teacher Or College Unfairly Targets A Student Academically?
Academic harassment does not always involve physical or verbal abuse. A student may face concerns relating to unfair evaluation, discriminatory treatment, delayed examination results, denial of facilities, victimisation or other institutional actions. The UGC (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations, 2023 specifically recognise complaints concerning non-transparent or unfair methods of student evaluation, delays in examinations or results, failure to provide required student facilities, alleged discrimination against specified categories of students and other forms of student harassment or victimisation. This gives students a formal institutional route instead of requiring every academic dispute to become a criminal complaint.
What If The Harassment Is Sexual?
Students facing sexual harassment have additional protections. For women students in higher educational institutions, the UGC (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women Employees and Students in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2015 provide a framework for prevention and redressal of sexual harassment. Where the victim is a child, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) may apply depending on the conduct. Where the conduct amounts to a criminal offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the appropriate criminal provisions may also apply. The existence of an institutional complaint mechanism does not prevent criminal law from applying where the facts satisfy a criminal offence.
What If The Bullying Involves Threats Or Physical Violence?
Bullying can move beyond an institutional disciplinary issue when it involves criminal conduct. Depending on the facts, conduct may involve offences relating to causing hurt, assault or criminal force, wrongful restraint, criminal intimidation, intentional insult or other offences under the BNS. However, not every unpleasant interaction or disagreement is automatically a criminal offence. The ingredients of the particular offence have to be established. For this reason, students and institutions may need to distinguish between ordinary academic disagreement, disciplinary misconduct, harassment and conduct that satisfies a criminal offence.
What Legal Mechanism Can A College Student Use?
A student in a higher educational institution can approach the institution’s Student Grievance Redressal Committee (SGRC) where the grievance falls within the UGC Regulations. Under the 2023 Regulations, institutions are required to constitute SGRCs. A grievance can cover matters including discrimination, harassment, victimisation and certain academic or administrative irregularities. The SGRC is required to follow principles of natural justice, and an aggrieved student can appeal its decision to the university-level Ombudsperson in accordance with the regulations. This mechanism is particularly relevant where the problem concerns a teacher, department, academic evaluation or institutional decision and does not necessarily amount to a criminal offence. Students may therefore have different possible routes depending on the circumstances, including an institutional grievance, an anti-ragging mechanism, an Internal Committee where sexual harassment is involved, or the police where the facts disclose a criminal offence.
What About Mental Health Support Inside Colleges?
The UGC has also issued Guidelines for Promotion of Physical Fitness, Sports, Students’ Health, Welfare, Psychological and Emotional Well-Being at Higher Educational Institutions. The guidelines recognise the need for support centres and career counsellors and call for safeguards against academic pressure, peer pressure, behavioural issues, stress, career concerns, depression and other mental-health concerns affecting students. These guidelines are different from a criminal statute. Their purpose is to encourage higher educational institutions to create supportive systems for students’ psychological and emotional well-being.
What Should A Student Do If Harassment Continues?
A student facing harassment can preserve relevant evidence such as messages, emails, written complaints, examination records or other material that can establish what occurred. The student can also use the institution’s grievance mechanism where applicable. Where the matter involves threats, physical violence, sexual offences, caste-based offences or another potential crime, approaching the appropriate law-enforcement authority may also be necessary. A student experiencing serious psychological distress can seek professional mental-health support. The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 recognises the right to access mental healthcare, while UGC guidelines encourage higher educational institutions to provide psychological and emotional support systems. A complaint does not have to wait until a situation becomes a crisis, and early reporting can also create an institutional record of repeated conduct.
What Should Students Keep In Mind?
Students do not lose their legal rights because they are under academic pressure. Bullying can attract institutional action and, depending on the conduct, criminal liability. Ragging can include psychological harm and conduct affecting a student’s mental health. Caste-based discrimination can be addressed through institutional grievance mechanisms and, where the statutory ingredients are satisfied, criminal law. Students can challenge certain unfair academic practices through the UGC grievance framework. Sexual harassment has separate institutional protections, and POCSO can apply where the victim is a child. The right to mental healthcare exists independently of whether a student can establish that another person caused the mental-health difficulty.
Conclusion
Student mental health and student safety are connected to several areas of Indian law. The legal framework does not treat every academic difficulty or interpersonal conflict as a crime, but it also does not leave students without remedies when conduct crosses into harassment, discrimination, ragging, violence or other unlawful behaviour. For school students, Section 17 of the RTE Act provides an important statutory safeguard against physical punishment and mental harassment within its scope. For higher education students, UGC grievance, anti-ragging, equity and sexual-harassment frameworks provide institutional mechanisms. The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 separately recognises the right to access mental healthcare, including child mental-health services.
The central principle is simple: academic pressure is not a licence for humiliation, discrimination or abuse. Where student safety, dignity or mental health is affected, the appropriate legal and institutional remedy depends on the nature of the conduct, the age of the student and the facts of the case.
