Kanpur:
Prachi, a 17-year-old Class XI student of the Khalsa Girls Inter College in Kanpur, has killed herself because her father failed to pay her school fees on time.
Her family says Prachi was worried over constant nagging from the school for delay in payment of fees, and hanged herself using her school uniform.
The family could not pay her school fees for the last two months -- that's Rs 700.
That, as her family says, was the reason Prachi who was a good student hanged herself in her room. They claim the school was not cooperative.
"Due to lack of financial support she killed herself," said Prachi's mother Shanti Devi.
Prachi's father is a poor milkman. The family has only one cow and survives on whatever they get from selling milk.
Prachi, the eldest of the four siblings, was the only one going to school. Her three sisters dropped out as the family could not afford their education.
"Her fees hadn't been paid for the past two months. My mother had filled the school form only but the fees had to be paid," said Muskaan, Prachi's sister.
"The girl was humiliated in school for not paying up, she felt embarrassed," said Ram Lakhan, their neighbour.
The school authorities have refused to comment; police say they are investigating the case. But all that now means little for this family, which is struggling to cope with the loss of young Prachi.