Trigger Warning: Substance Abuse
On February 9, IIT Bhubaneswar was hit with tragedy when one of its students, in third year, passed away on the premises. Multiple sources in the college suggest that his death was the result of an overdose and the substance allegedly involved was brown sugar, which is a less concentrated version of heroin. Due to the sensitive nature of the incident, all the sources from the college have requested their identities be kept hidden.
The police visited the campus on the same day and talked to the students present there, including a few who were involved in the consumption of the substance. While speaking to a student from the college, Campus Watch was told that he was accompanied by two to four of his friends.
What is disturbing about the entire incident is the administration’s utter silence on the demise of one of their students. There has neither been any official statement released by the college authorities as of this report, nor has there been any media coverage of the incident.
This seems important if one considers the date of the incident. IIT Bhubaneswar witnessed its 11th Foundation Day on February 12, i.e. three days after the incident occurred. The event, which was inaugurated by Professor Ganeshi Lal, governor of the state of Odisha, was expected to see a footfall of about 10,000 students and the absence of an official statement regarding the incident hints strongly at a correlation between the two.
Another student, on being asked about the absence of any sort of information to the public, strictly advised Campus Watch to tread lightly. We were also told about the administration’s alleged intention behind stifling the news of the incident.
Based on student accounts, IIT Bhubaneswar does see a lot of cases of alcohol consumption among its pupils. Even though cases which include the utilization of more harmful substances have been rare over the years, the security management and lapses of the university must be looked into.
Students in their third year stay at a hostel at another college which is around four kilometres away from the IIT campus. In a conversation with a student at IIT, Campus Watch was told how, because the security tends to focus more on the college, the students residing at the hostel outside the campus have more freedom than their peers.
Although the campus does conduct surprise checks at times, similar measures are thought to be harder to implement away from the college.
Along with there being a lack of appropriate security measures to prevent smuggling in of such substances, the question of the college administration’s silence still remains.
Update: On March 6, the students received an email by the college’s warden that provided them with a detailed set of instructions to follow. The email, which was sent in the aftermath of ‘several unwanted incidents,’ laid out nine points that introduced the student body to a newer form of security, in addition to the already existing structure. The notice is attached in the form of screenshots shared by students themselves.
Note: We contacted IIT Bhubaneswar for a comment on the above realities and have received no response. This post will be updated once we receive a response.