Worried by a spate of suicides by hanging, the authorities in the coaching hub of Kota have taken a desperate measure -- ordering hostels to install a spring device on ceiling fans to stop students from taking their lives.
In a fourth case of suspected suicide by a NEET aspirant this month, a 16-year-old student was found hanging in his hostel room in the Kunhari area of Kota, the police said on Thursday.
The body of 19-year-old Sneha Debnath, a Delhi University student missing for six days, was retrieved from the Yamuna River near Geeta Colony flyover on Sunday evening, police said.
A 52-year-old government school teacher from Indore, who is suffering from an excruciating bone disorder that has confined her to a wheelchair, has sought President Droupadi Murmu's permission to undergo euthanasia.
Solanki's mother in her statement to police said during a telephonic conversation in December 2022, Solanki told his sister that there was caste-based discrimination at the premier institute.
He said he was wondering where our institutions are going wrong, that students are forced to take their life.
Wardens and staff members of hostels in Kota will be given professional training in mess management, psychological and behavioural counselling, and other aspects of students' care to equip them to battle the rising number of suicides by aspirants in the coaching hub.
Ayush Ashna had just appeared in his final-year exams, they said.
The case was registered 47 days after Solanki allegedly ended his life by jumping off a building on the IIT Bombay campus in Powai on February 12.
The student was found hanging in his hostel room on the campus, a police officer said and added a case has been registered and a probe is on.
'Make your child solve his/her problems on his/her own. Let the child see parenting as a partnership between you and your child.'
We publish reader comments on the recent spate of student deaths.
A Dalit student at Delhi University's Shaheed Bhagat Singh College has filed a police complaint alleging that its principal hurled casteist slurs and assaulted him after he was falsely accused of sending obscene messages on the official WhatsApp group of his department. The student, a third-year BA Hindi Honours student, claimed the incident caused him mental trauma and defamation. He has also written to the University Vice-Chancellor and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, seeking action against those involved. The principal has denied the allegations, claiming the student was being manipulated by a faculty member against whom an inquiry is underway.
Less than six months after she moved to Kota to prepare for medical entrance exam NEET, a 16-year-old girl from Jharkhand's Ranchi allegedly hanged herself to death in her hostel room, the police said.
'So my question was, 'What is it that you are proud of? What have you achieved? What is your contribution?' 'He had no answer.'
The Bhootnii is just never thrilling, frightening or funny enough to pass itself off as a horror comedy, notes Deepa Gahlot.
This is the thirteenth case of suspected suicide by a coaching student in Kota since January.
A chargesheet filed by the Mumbai police in connection with the alleged suicide of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) student Darshan Solanki stated that he had sought help from someone for improving his academic performance and also mentioned depression.
A 32-year-old PhD student at IIT-Kanpur allegedly died by suicide in his hostel room, the police said on Wednesday, while in the south a 23-year-old IIT-Hyderabad student allegedly died by suicide on Wednesday at a lodge near the institute where he was staying.
The guidelines for regulating coaching institutes have been framed to address the need for a legal framework and manage the unregulated growth of private coaching centres.
In its closure report on Rohith Vemula's death, the Telangana police claimed he was not a Dalit and died by suicide in 2016 as he feared that his "real caste" would be discovered.
Rediff Labs analyses the data on student suicides in India.
A 16-year-old student allegedly died by suicide in Hyderabad even as his family accused the college management and some members of the teaching faculty of harassing him and held them responsible for his death, the police said on Wednesday.
A 16-year-old JEE aspirant allegedly hanged himself in his hostel room in Kota, hours after the National Testing Agency published the answer key for the first edition of JEE-Main 2024, the police said on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old student of the electrical engineering department, who hailed from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, was found hanging in his hostel room by his roommates, they added.
'The pressure from these betting games, coupled with financial ruin, is becoming unbearable for many, and tragically, some even resort to extreme measures like suicide.'
Rajasthan native Bharat Kumar Rajput was found hanging from the ceiling fan on Tuesday morning, the police said.
India needs to be technologically and militarily prepared to defend itself from both Pakistan and China, alerts Ramesh Menon.
The Kota district administration has released new guidelines for coaching centers and hostels under the 'Kota Cares' Campaign to reduce the cost of living for students preparing for competitive exams. The new guidelines include the elimination of security and caution money, a maintenance fee of Rs 2,000, anti-suicide ceiling fans, and mandatory gatekeeper training for hostel staff. The campaign aims to attract more students to Kota after a sharp decline in enrollment due to the pandemic.
A class 12 girl student of a government aided school near Tiruvallur was found dead on Monday on the premises of the institution-run hostel, the police said.
An April Fool's Day prank turned into a tragedy after an 18-year-old student lost his life while pretending to commit suicide by hanging during a video call to a friend at Indore in Madhya Pradesh, police said on Tuesday.
Rajasthan minister Shanti Dhariwal has said love affair was a reason behind many suicide cases among students, including a 16-year-old girl who died at her hostel recently, provoking her father to ask him for evidence.
Hostel owners said such steps to make their premises "suicide proof" are crucial to avoid tragic incidents.
Reddy assured her that an investigation would be conducted again into the University of Hyderabad student's suicide in 2016 and that justice would be done, an official release said.
The police team also found a suicide note addressing his father where the boy had expressed his incapability to crack the JEE, he said.
Mere allegations in a suicide note would not be sufficient to draw the conclusion that the accused has committed the offence of abetment, a Mumbai court has said while granting bail to IIT Bombay student Arman Khatri, arrested in connection with fellow student Darshan Solanki's suicide.
The man threatened her that if she did not agree to marry him, he would destroy the families of her sisters, outrage their modesty and kill them.
The 22-year-old student from Maharashtra, pursuing MS in electrical engineering at the institute was found hanging in his hostel room on the campus of IIT-Madras.
The body a 16-year-old JEE aspirant, who left his hostel for a routine test on February 11 and went missing, was found on Monday night stuck between two trees on a rock in a forest area in Rajasthan's Kota, the police said.
A prominent Indian diaspora body has urged various agencies of the US government, universities and student associations to work towards addressing the spike in the deaths of Indian-origin students in the US in recent months.
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