First-year intermediate student dies by suicide over academic pressure in Telangana

The body of the victim, N Sathwik, 16, was spotted hanging by his batchmates, who alerted the college management.

Image for representational purpose only.

HYDERABAD: Allegedly unable to withstand the pressure of performing well academically, a first-year Intermediate student from Sri Chaitanya Junior College in Narsingi died by suicide in a classroom late on Tuesday. While the college principal, Acharya Krishna Reddy, has been taken into custody, a case has been registered against the principal, hostel warden and a teacher.

The body of the victim, N Sathwik, 16, was spotted hanging by his batchmates, who alerted the college management. However, the authorities reportedly remained unresponsive, forcing Sathwik’s friends to shift the body to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, and inform his family members and the police. It is also alleged that the college management refused to provide a vehicle to shift him to the hospital, compelling them to ask for a lift from a two-wheeler owner.

His parents and friends claim that Sathwik took the extreme step because of the stress and pressure from the management over academic performance. They alleged that he had been sick for the last 15 days. His parents said that they had asked the lecturers to not pressurise him but they didn’t heed their requests. His friends alleged that the teachers don’t handle the students properly and just go on building pressure on them to get good marks.

Narsingi Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ramana Goud said, “A case under Section 305 (abetment of suicide of child or insane person) of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the principal Acharya Krishna Reddy, hostel warden Naresh and a teacher. The first priority is the postmortem and the body was moved to Gandhi Hospital for analysis. Once the examination is over, it will be disposed of and the investigation will begin. Meanwhile, we already collected the statements of the batchmates and friends. However, we are still in the process of talking to the staff and management.”He also said that they recovered a suicide note purportedly written by the victim mentioning the pressure from the school management.