Congress Demands Judicial Inquiry Following Sixth Student Death at BITS Pilani Goa Campus
Panaji: The Congress party has intensified its demand for an independent judicial inquiry following the tragic death of yet another student at the prestigious BITS Pilani Goa campus. This marks the sixth such incident since December 2024, raising serious questions about student safety and institutional accountability.
Congress Accuses Government of Criminal Inaction
State Congress president Amit Patkar launched a scathing attack on the Goa government, labeling their response as criminal inaction and institutional negligence. He demanded immediate accountability from both state authorities and the BITS Pilani management, stating that six deaths on a single campus cannot be dismissed as mere coincidence.
Six deaths on one campus are not a coincidence. They point to institutional negligence, unchecked academic pressure, and a dangerous absence of effective mental-health intervention, Patkar asserted during a press conference. He described the recurring tragedies as a total collapse of student safety at what is considered one of India's premier educational institutions.
Specific Demands and Actions Proposed
The Congress party has outlined several concrete measures to address the crisis:
- Filing of a police case against the BITS Pilani management for alleged negligence
- Immediate external mental-health and student-safety audit by independent experts
- Government-mandated compliance norms with penalties, including suspension of admissions for violations
- Direct moral responsibility from Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for the repeated deaths
The party has questioned why no judicial inquiry has been ordered despite multiple fatalities, and why findings and corrective measures have allegedly been kept hidden from public scrutiny.
Details of the Latest Tragedy
This latest incident represents the first recorded case of a woman student's suicide at the campus. Vaishnavi, a 20-year-old student from Bengaluru who was pursuing her course in electronics and communication engineering, died by hanging in her hostel room late on Sunday evening.
The recurring pattern of student deaths at BITS Pilani Goa has sparked nationwide concern about mental health infrastructure in educational institutions and the adequacy of support systems for students facing academic pressure.
