I have been closely observing what happened at IIT Bombay last night. I also have friends at IIT Bombay who have been sharing information about what is happening on campus. What concerns me most is the way the discussion is being reduced to one question: “Cheating is wrong.” Yes, cheating is wrong. There is no debate about that. But that does not mean we should stop asking questions about the system surrounding a student who has died by suicide. Some students started speaking about administrative failure and protesting, while others responded by simply saying, “But cheating is wrong.” We have been trying to explain that these are two separate questions. A student can be wrong for cheating, and the institution can still be questioned about how it handles academic misconduct, disciplinary pressure, mental-health concerns, and student welfare. The IIT Bombay administration has said that no disciplinary action had been initiated and that the student was counselled and assured that the incident would not adversely affect his academic career. At the same time, students have raised different claims about what the student was told and about the broader institutional environment. These questions deserve a transparent investigation. What worries me is that we are discussing the student's mistake so much that we may forget to examine the system around him. This is not about justifying cheating. It is about asking whether our institutions are equipped to identify and respond to students who are under extreme academic, social or personal pressure. I have studied at an institution in this ecosystem myself, and I believe we need to seriously question the culture that has developed around elite educational institutions: marks, placements, jobs, and execution often receive far more attention than independent thinking, experimentation, innovation, and solving difficult problems for society. The question should not simply be: “Did the student cheat?” The bigger questions are: Are our institutions creating resilient, independent thinkers? Are students treated as human beings or primarily as academic performers? When a student is going through a serious crisis, who is responsible for noticing it and following up? And after repeated student deaths, are we willing to examine the system itself rather than treating every incident in isolation? One student's mistake should not become an excuse to stop asking these questions. Students are not products. They are human beings, and institutions must be designed accordingly. @Pawankhera @AlankarSawai @vidyarthee @RahulGandhi