A class 11 girl died by suicide at home in Virudhunagar district’s Sivakasi in southern Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, the fourth such case in the state in two weeks.
Virudhunagar superintendent of police (SP) M Manohar said a case of unnatural death has been registered and the body was sent for autopsy to ascertain the cause of death. An investigation into the circumstances of her death is underway, he said.
“Her parents told us that she suffered severe menstrual pain which may have led her to take the extreme step… But that’s the parents’ version,” Manohar told HT.
The death was reported on Tuesday when the girl was at home with her grandmother. Her parents, who work in a fireworks factory in Sivakasi, found her dead when they returned home.
A class 12 student was also found dead at home in Cuddalore district about 400km from Sivakasi. Police said initial investigations indicated that the girl was under pressure due to the monthly tests underway at school.
On Monday, another class 12 girl also died by suicide in Tiruvallur district in her hostel room attached to a government-aided school.
A suicide by a class 12 student in the hostel of a private school in Kallakurichi on July 13 spotlighted the pressure on school children after her family suspected foul play in the 17-year-old girl’s death, leading to protests outside the school which erupted into a riot-like situation on July 17.
The CB-CID is investigating the death and the Tamil Nadu government formed a special team to probe the case on the high court’s direction. The high court had also ordered that every suicide of a student inside an educational institution must be handed over to the CB-CID.
Reacting to a string of deaths, chief minister MK Stalin on Tuesday described the recent incidents of student suicides as painful and asked educational institutes to treat education as a service and not as a business. “Students should be taught to deal with any situation,” he said.
On Wednesday, Stalin flagged off a mental health awareness drive for school students.
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