Disclaimer
The following post is not a study on the campaigns or movements started by a single person. Neither does it deal with the data generated by the successful implementation of a project. Instead, this post is trying to present a case study of an ongoing campaign and several potentially failed attempts, commonly deserted in the process along with their data. This post will mainly contain Indian references, and everything is backed by the remains of the evidence.
First
As of October, there is one very hyped news going on involving the demise of a student in one of the top institutions of India. The outlook of this kind of story may come as a shock to many, and become unbelievable as you dive deeper. In reality, this is a fairly common scenario and the only shocking thing is that it came to the surface. For those who are unfamiliar- big tech giants often have their Indian roots in these universities which was often dubbed as the best hub for a technical career among my peers.
Second
We don't encounter such kind of news often; maybe once a year, twice at max. And it's obviously a big issue throughout the world: students suffering from poor mental health, several unfortunate events, and several actions for prevention and improvement. What's concerning about the cases happening in India, especially in its highly regarded premier institutions is: they are way bigger and more disturbing than what gets mentioned in the ones coming out. (Also, one should not confuse the cases coming out as automatically the biggest ones.)
Third
In the last two weeks, there have been two more such tragedies in a similar institution, mine. (There is no footnote available as the info isn't and won't be out) I know because of the vague condolences meeting emails I received, followed by customary mail for mental health awareness. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to go to those meetings(reason mentioned further in the post), but most of the people on campus know how these things are handled and long gave up hope. Both of those deaths are deemed suicides on the campus, from academic harassment which is dubbed and used as academic pressure.
Last year, after being on the brink of such a scenario myself and immediately after the tragedy of another colleague in June, I decided not to complete my remaining master's and to take on a project of my own in which I would be making efforts to get addressed every kind of harassment and discrimination against me in the previous 5 years before graduating. There were clear instructions and provisions available on how to do what and what to do when, and I had more than enough factual evidence from my time studying in college to get the so-called 'resolution'. And by the way, I (used to) study at IIT Delhi, in the capital, which according to the general(Indian) consensus comes above the one mentioned in the First part and at times first overall in the country.
After that, all hell broke loose. Evidently, more suicides followed. I was harassed for months, stalked, kicked out of the campus, forced to take my complaints back, and the incidents after that are too sensitive to be explained here further. The policies, provisions, policymakers, and even sub-provisions weren't even there. And I checked it all. It took months. As my physical health degraded, the concept of mental health was used to turn my illiterate family against me, hence cutting off necessary basic resources, and then again the incidents that followed are too sensitive to be explained here further. After making sure I was incapable of taking any further action, my case was buried silently with silence.
This is the point where most of us are hinted to perish along with all our data. I considered it too. Then I moved on and chose the worse option; and filed a report Human Rights Commission, which was also in the capital. Surprisingly, they were good at harassing too, which later became obvious(surveillance was still on). I still filed my report, waited, got an automated response, waited, got an order, waited, and then kept waiting. Later I found out that the order was also an automated response. It's sent to everyone but nobody follows it, and after that nothing happens. Unless you hire a lawyer and sue them, which is not the scenario if you're filing a report there. Because you can't afford anything else. A simple, foolproof coping mechanism. That's the human rights commission for you. Similar results were obtained from numerous other provisional sources of help(some might have gotten suspicious of my last name and left), including the ones who actually made the mental health act in 2017.
(which came in 2018 actually, prior to that if you survived your 'attempt', you'd already committed a crime)
Last
After several failed attempts of various kinds, some of which are dubbed as successful, I filed a third-grade 100+ pages petition in July of this year as a petitioner-in-person, which(you might have guessed if you clicked on 1st footnote,) is again delayed to date solely because I am representing myself. If I ever get to present my case in front of authority, I highly doubt I would even be given time to say- you could have prevented at least two lives, if you had considered it before October.
How can you/EAs help? In either of the following ways:
- By referring me to a lead, who would help me.
- By collaborating with me (by providing basic support or otherwise.)
- By referring me to aid from EA India(if active).
- By providing direct support( or through an intervention group)
- By aiding me to publish a book(If such a thing exists).
- By referring me to a firm(that deals in human rights for real).
- By referring relevant backers (EA or otherwise)
- By sharing this post to a relevant media contact.
- By whatever else possible.
