MP High Court Permits Withdrawal Of PIL On Rising Suicides At Medical Colleges Noting SC's Guidelines To Protect Mental Health Of Students

The Madhya Pradesh High Court, on Monday (July 28), permitted the withdrawal of a public interest litigation that sought a policy intervention by the State Government to address the rising number of suicides among medical students, in view of the recent guidelines issued by the apex court on the issue. 

Deputy Advocate General appearing for the State submitted that by a detailed judgment the Supreme Court in Sukdeb Saha v State of Andhra Pradesh, has passed extensive directions for all Coaching Institutes, Colleges, States as well as the Authorities covering the issues raised in the present petition.

Notably, the Supreme Court had on July 25, while addressing the issue of students' suicides in India, issued comprehensive guidelines to protect the mental health of students in schools, colleges, and coaching centres. This includes that all educational institutions with 100 or more enrolled students shall appoint/engage at least one qualified counsellor, psychologist, or social worker with demonstrable training in child and adolescent mental health

During the hearing in the high court, a division bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf orally remarked, "the issue you are raising is very concerning, but the Supreme Court, in this judgment, has extensively...far more than probably what we could have imagined. It covers it".

The court thereafter in its order said:

"In view of the above, learned senior counsel for petitioner under instructions seeks leave to withdraw the petition, reserving the rights of the petitioner to raise the issue afresh in future, if need so arises. In view of the above, petition is dismissed as withdrawn".

The PIL before the high court raised concerns about the deteriorating mental health conditions among students in medical colleges, especially in Madhya Pradesh. The PIL highlighted that three states- Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu- together accounted for 1/3rd of the total student suicide cases reported across the country. 

The PIL also raised serious concerns regarding the working conditions and environment in both government and private medical colleges. It stated that there has been a trend of misreporting suicides as natural deaths in private institutes. 

The plea had sought direction to the State authorities to take measures to improve mental health and well-being infrastructure in colleges and to conduct a high-level enquiry regarding suicides committed by students in the last 10 years in the various colleges in the State.

During the hearing, the petitioner's counsel urged the court to direct immediate implementation of the Supreme Court guidelines within Madhya Pradesh. 

Case Title: Krishna Kumar Bhargava v State of M.P (WP - 26049/2025)

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (MP) 166

Counsel for Petitioner: Senior Advocate Aditya Sanghi

Click here to read the Order