May 23, 2025 - The Supreme Court has pulled up the Rajasthan government over the rising number of suicides in Kota questioning what the administration was doing to prevent the alarming incidents.

Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan were listening to two matters - one involving a 22-year-old IIT Kharagpur student found hanging in his hostel room on May 4 and a separate case concerning a NEET aspirant, a young girl who was found hanging in her room in Kota where she lived with her parents.

The Bench noted that this year there have been 14 cases of suicide in the coaching hub of the State, calling the situation “serious”. A delay in filing the First Information Report in one of the cases also came in for grilling by the Apex Court.

"What are you doing as a state? Why are these kids committing suicide, and only in Kota? Did you not think for a moment as a state?” asked Justice Pardiwala of the counsel representing the State government.

The government told the Court that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to investigate the suicide cases. The Bench, however, showed displeasure at the way the matter was being handled and stressed on the need for  more active intervention.

A Kota police official has been summon to court on July 14 for further clarification.

Readers may recall that a few days ago, Rajasthan High Court had criticised the delay in regulatory laws for coaching centres in the State in view of the alarming rise in suicide cases by students in Kota and other coaching centres in the State.

With Media Inputs