The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata has launched a fact-finding committee to investigate the unnatural death of 24-year-old PhD student Anamtira Roy, who died at AIIMS Kalyani hospital on August 8, 2025, hours after collapsing on the Haringhata campus in Nadia district. A preliminary hospital report suggests a drug overdose as a contributing factor, but allegations of bullying and institutional neglect have sparked outrage and student protests.

Roy, a third-year life science researcher, reportedly had a heated argument with colleagues in the institute’s laboratory on Thursday evening, hours before falling critically ill. His cousin, Hrisikesh Roy, filed an FIR at Haringhata police station, accusing a research guide, Anindita Bhadra, and a batchmate, Sourabh Biswas, of abetting suicide through relentless bullying and mental harassment. Hrisikesh claimed Roy faced “extreme mental stress” due to their actions, a sentiment echoed by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), whose general secretary, Debanjan Dey, demanded a thorough probe after meeting the family.

Roy’s social media posts, cited in the FIR, detailed prolonged harassment, including verbal abuse by Biswas on April 12, 2025, and inaction by the institute’s anti-ragging committee despite multiple complaints. Roy, who disclosed a recent autism diagnosis and a history of depression since age 14, wrote, “I was never made for this world… I give up,” expressing despair over ignored emails to the internal complaints committee. He also referenced a prior suicide attempt in April 2025 and suicidal thoughts dating back to class 6.

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On August 9, 2025, around 500 IISER students protested, bringing Roy’s body to the campus after a post-mortem, demanding the anti-ragging committee’s dissolution and an external investigation. They submitted a 16-point charter, calling for a special investigation team, disciplinary action against faculty, and a probe into alleged scientific misconduct by Biswas. The institute’s director, Sunil Kumar Khare, acknowledged “lapses” by the anti-ragging committee, announcing its dissolution and forming a new probe panel with external members, including an AIIMS Kalyani representative, to report within seven days.

The case echoes a 2022 incident at IISER Kolkata, where PhD student Subhadip Roy’s suicide was linked to a research guide’s pressure. Despite IISER’s claim of a 24/7 counseling cell and zero-tolerance ragging policy, critics, including a Calcutta-based lawyer, highlight the institute’s failure to file an FIR for Roy’s April complaint, violating Supreme Court mandates. The Union human resource development ministry is reportedly planning to send its own fact-finding team as public pressure mounts for accountability.

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