In Telangana Death By Suicide, Student's Heart-Breaking Apology To Mother

On Tuesday evening, a 16-year-old told his father he was struggling at the residential college he joined less than a year ago - the pressure was too much, he said. It was a cry for help. His father, who visited the hostel to hand him his anti-allergy medicine, cajoled him to stay put.

Hours later, the Class 11 student was found hanging in a classroom at the junior college in Narsingi near Hyderabad.

Like every day at this college for IIT aspirants, the students had study hour till 10 pm. When they left for their rooms in the hostel, this boy was missing.

His friends informed the warden but decided to look for him when they realised no one was reacting fast. They frantically searched room to room. They finally found him in a classroom. They ran carrying him, hailed a lift and rushed to a hospital. No one from the faculty came to help, the students claim. He was declared dead in hospital.

At 4 am, all students were sent home for two days.

The students handed over to the police a crumpled suicide note they had found the teen clutching.

"I am not able to cope with this, Amma. That's why I am doing this wrong deed. Please forgive me," said the handwritten "suicide letter".

"No one should suffer the torture I am going through. Please ensure they are punished..."

The note was full of apologies to his family - his parents, elder brother, even friends. "Sorry for subjecting you to this, Amma," he wrote and asked his brother to look after her well, so she would not miss him.

Classmates said the boy was under extreme pressure and had grown distant, of late.

"The main reason is the pressure put on him. With the idea that he should get more marks, they tortured him. These days he was a little depressed and distant from us... The pressure put by college is responsible for whatever happened,'' said one of his friends.

Some students shared videos that suggest the boys were subjected to physical assault and public humiliation over studies at the college that specialises in intense IIT coaching for Class 11 and 12 students.

A punishing schedule did not help. The students say they are expected to start the day at 5 am and go through a whirl of classes and studies, only pausing for breakfast, lunch and dinner. After attending classes till 10 pm, they are often up till midnight to prepare for tests.

Those who didn't do well were humiliated, students claimed, alleging a "caste system" based on grades.

The teen's family was informed by friends, rather than the college, about his death.

"Even when the boys informed that our boy was missing, they did not react for more than 15 minutes. Very irresponsible,'' said the boy's uncle.

Telangana Education Minister Sabita Indra Reddy said she would investigate and take action.

On whether she had noted the alleged videos of beatings, she said: "Definitely, this is unacceptable even in school. How can it happen in a college. I saw the videos. We will get this inquired into.''

The police have charged the college authorities with abetment to suicide. Four people named by the family and students are being questioned.

Telangana has been jolted by student suicides in the past week.

An engineering student hanged herself in Warangal on Sunday after a friend leaked her personal photos.

Another woman from Warangal, a postgraduate medical student who had attempted suicide on Wednesday, over alleged harassment by a senior, died at a Hyderabad hospital on Sunday.

A final-year medical student died by suicide at her hostel room in Nizamabad last Saturday.

Another student died by suicide at a relative's home last week.

As many as 1,64,033 people died by suicide in the country in 2021, according to the latest official figures.