We can debate ad nauseam the casteist slurs allegedly used and a teacher’s academic credentials. But the more fundamental question is where we, as a society—and IIT Bombay in particular—failed a second-year engineering student. Did we fail him by leaving him alone after communicating, whether gently or harshly (the truth is yet to emerge), that he faced a six-month suspension? Does IIT Bombay not have counsellors on its rolls, especially during examination time? Could teachers not have taken turns to stay with him until his parents or other family members arrived? In schools, a child who falls ill or vomits is not simply left alone. The first-aid room staff takes over, and the child is cared for until a parent arrives. Why should the response be any different in a college, where students may be adults but are often still dependent on their families for financial and emotional support? Wouldn't you or I, as parents, want someone kind and compassionate to be around our child in their darkest hour, especially if we are unable to be around? If only a watchful, SENSITISED soul had been around that boy...