Narayana College student ends life, management booked for abetment to suicide

 Hyderabad: Unable to withstand the alleged constant pressure by the Narayana College at Chaitanyapuri to score more marks, a 16-year-old Intermediate first year student died by suicide at his house, the Meerpet police said on Tuesday.

The child, son of a milk vendor, delivered milk to some houses as usual, locked himself in his room and died by suicide. His name and those of his family members are being withheld as he was a minor and so is his younger brother.

Police said they recovered a suicide note from the victim in which he stated, “The teachers, principal and vice-principal have been harrassing me to score more marks. No one should join this college. Mom and Dad, do not get my brother admitted in this college. I hope my brother gets admission in a better college. Managements, do not put pressure on students. This is my last day, sorry Mom, Dad, brother.”

The victim’s younger brother studies Class 7.

Following the suicide, the student’s parents went to the college and held a protest against the management. They prevented the police from taking the student’s body for the post-mortem examination, demanding stern action against the college management.

“He was a very bright student, he scored 8.3 GPA in Class 10. For his future, with great difficulty, we arranged for funds and got him an admission in Narayana College in Chaitanyapuri,” the victim’s father said.

“He had told us that the management was harassing him. We spoke to the management about it and they assured they would not insist on his marks,” said the father.

On Tuesday morning, the mother said, he told her that he was getting ready to go to the college. “At around 6.45 am, we grew suspicious when he did not come out of the room. I alerted my husband who along with our neighbour managed to break open the door and found him,” she said.

Police assured the protestors that they would take action against the management and book cases against the college officials.

“We have registered a case of abetment to suicide against the management and served notice on the principal, vice principal and class teacher to record their statement,” said Meerpet police sub-inspector M. Sudhakar. The victim’s body was later shifted to the Osmania General Hospital for postmortem.

Action should be taken against the Narayana educational institutions, said DYFI state vice president M.D. Javed, following the student’s suicide. “The principal, vice-principal and other staff Narayana College are responsible for the death.”

He said the students were under pressure from 6 am to 8 pm every day. This was causing the students serious mental problems. He said the government had mandated that every college must have psychologists, most college managements had ignored it.

Along with other educational institutions that lack a psychologist, the Narayana institutions should be sealed, Javed said, and demanded an ex gratia of Rs 20 lakhs to the family of the deceased.