Case Against Kota Coaching Centre Over Student's Death By Suicide

Police have booked a coaching institute here for abetment of suicide in connection with the death of an IIT-JEE aspirant studying at the institute who had allegedly hanged himself in his PG room, officials said on Tuesday.

Bhadur Singh (17), a resident of Rampur district in Uttar Pradesh, was found dead in his room in Mahaveer Nagar-II on Friday night and his body was recovered from the room on Saturday morning, they said. Police also recovered a suicide note from his room.

He was preparing for IIT-JEE exam in a coaching institute in Vigyan Nagar area of Kota city for last two months, police said.

Bhadur's brother Jai Bhim Singh, who reached Kota to claim the body after postmortem on Sunday, accused the coaching institute of harassing the 17-year-old and suspending him from the institute, forcing him to end his life.

On Sunday night, police lodged a case of abetment of suicide under Section 306 of IPC against authorities of the coaching institute and began further investigation, circle inspector at Mahaveer Nagar police station Paramjeet Singh said.

Earlier, the police had lodged a case under Section 174 of CrPC to investigate the actual reason of death.

In his complaint, the Jai Bhim said the coaching institute harassed Bhadur and suspended him from the institute causing depression and distress, which forced him to end his life, circle officer DSP Harshraj Singh said.

Jai Bhim further alleged that the institute did not revoke his suspension despite Bhadur's apologies. The complainant did not name the institute in the FIR and only stated its location near City Mall in Vigyan Nagar, the DSP said.

It is learnt that the dead boy had a fight with another boy of the institute a few days ago following which he was suspended from the institute.

In his suicide note, however, Bhadur said that he had been suffering from a severe skin disease for the past two years and was deeply upset about it, circle inspector Paramjeet Patel said. The boy did not mention harassment by coaching institute in his suicide note, he said.

This incident is suspected to be the fifteenth suicide case by a coaching student in Kota this year so far.

Last year, at least 15 coaching students died by suicide. More than 2.25 lakh students are estimated to be taking classes in various coaching centres in the coaching hub this academic session to crack entrance exams of medical and engineering colleges.

Despite multiple measures by government and non-government agencies, the cases of suicide continue to rise. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)