The circumstances surrounding the death of Mamita Naik, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad student who reportedly took her own life in her hostel room, remains a mystery, reports The New Indian Express. While her family from Subarnapur district suspects that she may have been driven to suicide due to ragging, the national institute denies these allegations.
As per TNIE, Mamita's body was transported from Hyderabad to her hometown Dumuri on Wednesday, August 9. The 23-year-old had recently enrolled in IIT Hyderabad to pursue an MTech in Civil Engineering. She lived alone in one of the institute's 16 hostel blocks.
Mamita's uncle, Jagyenswar Naik, who is a contractor, said Mamita got admission purely on the basis of merit. An alumnus of Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT), Burla, Mamita had cleared her BTech in Civil Engineering with 92 per cent last year. She had studied in the village school and completed Plus II with 80 per cent marks. She never took help from any tuition teacher or coaching centre, he said. Stating he spent Rs 65,360 towards her admission and hostel fees on July 24, Naik said Mamita was supposed to get Rs 12,400 per month as a stipend from the institute for being an SC student with good grades.
On Monday, August 7, at around 8.30 pm, her family received a call from the IIT intimating she had ended her life in the hostel room. Sangareddy police, after registering a case based on a complaint from the institute, discovered two suicide notes in Mamita's room – one in Odia and the other in English. In these notes, she allegedly expressed that she was facing mental stress and was unable to cope, leading her to take this extreme step.
Jagyenswar Naik refutes the theory of depression. He emphasises that their joint family was in regular contact with Mamita through video calls, and on August 6, she seemed content and excited about her studies at the institute.
After her admission, Mamta underwent orientation and as per the institute's rules, there was a one-to-one session between her and a faculty member but the allegation of ragging was never brought up, the officials added. The college has a zero-tolerance policy towards ragging and no such case has occurred on the campus in the last four years, said the institute's PRO, Mitalee Agarwal.
However, Mamita's uncle has gone on to file a ragging complaint with the Birmaharajpur police station, suggesting that since she was a new student, the possibility of ragging cannot be entirely ruled out.
