Karnataka: 13-year-old boy commits suicide over 'forced' hostel admission

Kalaburagi (Karnataka), July 10 (IANS) In a tragic incident, a 13-year-old boy committed suicide on Thursday in Kalaburagi district, Karnataka, after being admitted to a hostel against his wishes.

The deceased boy, Narayana Rathod, was a Class 7th student at the Indira Gandhi Residential School in Mudhol town, Sedam taluk, Kalaburagi district. Narayana Rathod hailed from Paanegaon in Kalaburagi taluk.

According to police, the boy was unwilling to be admitted to the residential school and had even warned his family that he would commit suicide if forced to join. Police have also gathered information that, despite his warnings, his parents had asked him to join the hostel and study well, and the boy had attempted to end his life 15 days prior.

However, after further counselling, his parents had again left him at the hostel. Unable to live away from his mother, the boy committed suicide on the premises of the Indira Gandhi residential hostel. The jurisdictional Sedam police have registered a case and initiated an investigation. Police are also recording statements from the deceased boy's parents, hostel authorities, and friends.

Earlier on June 2, a medical student was found dead in her hostel room in Shivamogga district. The deceased was identified as 22-year-old Vishnu Priya, a student of Subbaiah Medical College in the city. Vishnu Priya, a native of Bengaluru, was doing her internship as part of her bachelor’s degree, and she was about to complete it in a couple of weeks. Shivamogga Rural police registered a case of unnatural death based on a complaint lodged by the victim’s relatives.

On June 29, a 15-year-old girl student was found dead by suicide in a residential school in Koppa town of Chikkamagaluru district. Shamitha, a resident of Bomlapura village in Koppa taluk, was found hanging inside hostel premises. Shamitha was studying in the residential school since she was in class 6. The exact reason is under investigation by the Koppa police station.

On May 29, a first-year student at an engineering college in Karnataka’s Kodagu district allegedly died by suicide in her hostel room. The student, identified as 19-year-old Tejaswini, was studying in the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning course in Halligattu College of Engineering and Technology in Ponnampet of Madikeri district.

A death note was recovered from her room in which she had reportedly stated that she was ending her life due to academic pressure. She mentioned having six backlogs and expressed her unwillingness to continue her studies.

--IANS

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