New Delhi, Jan. 16 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday held higher educational institutions (HEIs) accountable for students' mental well-being, making it mandatory to report every suicide or unnatural death and provide round-the-clock medical help on residential campuses, based on recommendations from an expert panel headed by a former SC judge. A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan adopted findings from the National Task Force (NTF), constituted by the court in March 2025 under retired justice Ravindra S Bhat's chairmanship. The panel identified systemic changes to curb student suicides based on a survey of HEIs. NTF was formed after the court took suo motu cognisance of rising campus suicides and the lack of effective redressal mechanisms. While separate UGC guidelines exist on ragging, drug abuse, sexual harassment, accessibility, suicide prevention and mental health, the court noted they remain largely on paper-"prescriptive", with no implementation mechanism. The bench directed: "All HEIs must report any incident of suicide or unnatural death of a student, regardless of the location of its occurrence. to police...." Using its Article 142 powers, which allow the court to pass any order in the interest of complete justice, the bench directed that Sample Registration System data on suicides be maintained by all HEIs for 15-29 age group. It also ordered the National Crime Records Bureau to distinguish between school student suicides and those in higher education. NTF's interim report found that in the 15-29 age group, suicide is the highest cause of death among women and second highest in men. Though only 3.5% of 60,383 HEIs responded to the survey, the bench said: "The youth of this country are increasingly becoming vulnerable to suicides than the overall population."...