BITS Pilani Goa PhD scholar found dead, 2nd student suicide this year

MARGAO: A 26-year-old PhD scholar from Kerala, studying at BITS Pilani’s K K Birla Goa Campus, was found dead at a rented accommodation in Verna on Wednesday, marking the institution’s second student suicide this year.

South Goa collector Egna Cleetus confirmed the preliminary finding as a case of suicide, with police investigation and a postmortem report awaited. “This is the second incident reported this year. Last year, we unfortunately had four similar incidents,” she said.

Cleetus attributed the recurring deaths to a “suicide contagion”, or cluster effect — a phenomenon recognised in psychological and public health literature wherein repeated exposure to suicide-related incidents increases vulnerability among at-risk individuals. “When there are repeated incidents of student suicide, vulnerable people tend to imitate and die by suicide when in an emotionally stressful situation,” she explained.

A district level monitoring committee constituted to review the earlier suicide incidents submitted its report to govt on Feb 2, identifying gaps in mental health infrastructure on campus.

“One of the major findings was that they were not having an adequate number of mental healthcare professionals,” Cleetus said, and added that BITS has since augmented its facilities and now provides 24x7 in-house and external mental health support.

The institution has also reduced academic pressure by increasing electives and making certain papers optional, and has submitted a compliance report to govt. A medical camp was conducted by the directorate of health services on April 10, with awareness sessions on stress management and emotional resilience held subsequently.