Fathima Latheef’s Father to Demand Internal Probe at IIT Madras

Fathima Latheef’s father to move the Madras High Court demanding an internal probe by IIT- Madras.

Three days after 19-year-old Fathima Latheef was found dead in her hostel room in IIT Madras, her father has demanded a probe.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

Abdul Latheef, father of Fathima Latheef who had allegedly killed herself inside the IIT Madras campus, said he wants the institute to conduct an internal probe. Speaking to The Quint, he said he will soon file a petition in the Madras High Court demanding the probe. He reached Chennai on Wednesday morning, along with Fathima’s twin sister Aysha and uncle, after being summoned by the investigating officers.

The case of the alleged suicide of IIT Madras student Fathima Latheef has been handed over to the Central Crime Branch and will now be investigated by a special committee, said the Chennai Commissioner on Thursday, 14 November.

The 19-year-old Kollam native Fathima Latheef, who is a first-year student at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Madras, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her hostel room, on 9 November.

On 14 November, amid protests demanding a time-bound, fair trial, the case was transferred to a special committee at the Central Crime Bureau headed by Addt Commissioner Eshwaramoothy. Megalina, Addt. Deputy Commissioner of Crime against Women & Children, was deputed as the investigating officer.

Abdul Latheef said, “We are going to the forensics department now to check her phone.”

The officers will investigate her phone in the presence of the family, he said. “Today we will know the exact status of the investigation,” he added.

Meanwhile, on 18 November, students of the institute sat on a hunger strike demanding the management constitute an external expert panel to survey the overall mental well-being of students. They also demanded setting up a Grievance Redressal Cell for each department and conducting an internal probe into the allegations made by Fathima’s family.

The management accepted the first two demands and the students called off the strike. However, when the students met the director on 21 November, he told them the institute cannot form an internal probe committee as an investigation was already underway by the authorities. The students have now planned on forming a joint action committee to demand justice for Latheef.