This incident marks the third student suicide reported on the campus in the past nine months. Aligarh: A second-year BS student of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) was found dead inside her hostel room at Indira Gandhi Hall late Tuesday night.
Irtika had returned to the campus on July 28 after visiting her parents, according to university officials. The incident has renewed concerns regarding student mental health at the university, as it follows two similar tragedies on campus over the past nine months: In Jan 2026, a 20-year-old final-year diploma engineering student died by suicide in her hostel room shortly after informing her father—who was in Saudi Arabia—of her intent during a video call. In October 2025, an 18-year-old second-year BA student from Moradabad was found dead in her room at Mumtaz Hostel in the university’s Women’s College campus.
“Preliminary accounts suggest that she had been under stress after returning,” said AMU proctor Mohammad Naved Khan. Irtika Sameer was found hanging from a ceiling fan with her scarf. Hostel residents alerted authorities after the student’s mother—unable to reach her daughter on the phone—contacted another hosteller from West Bengal to check on her. Despite her father alerting campus authorities, emergency responders could not save her.
A police team arrived at the hostel and rushed the student to JN Medical College trauma centre, where emergency personnel were unable to revive her. Doctors indicated that the death had occurred sometime before she was brought to hospital.