He had failed in four papers out of six in the mid-term examinations, but had managed to hide the report card from his parents for a week.
The youth are under pressure to perform. Be it academically, socially or otherwise, but stress — a byproduct of popular culture and expectations — is killing them. Literally.
A day after an 18-year-old physiotherapy student committed suicide after failing in three of six subjects in her second semester examinations, 12-year-old Sushant Patil — a seventh standard student of Shardashram School (Marathi medium) at Dadar — also chose to forget failure by ending his life.
The boy hanged himself with a nylon rope in a toilet in his school early on Monday morning. He had failed in four papers out of six in the mid-term examinations, but had managed to hide the report card from his parents for a week.
The Powai police investigating the suicide of 18-year-old Bhajan Preetkaur Bhullar, a first-year student of the DY Patil College in Nerul, said that she too may have ended her life because of depression over her examination results.
She had hanged herself in her room at her residence in Chetanagar, Powai. The police did not find a suicide note, but said they suspect that she may have been depressed as both her elder sister and younger brother are academically brighter than her.
Meanwhile, the Dadar police said that Patil had carried a nylon rope in his school bag and sneaked into the toilet when the prayer bell rang so that no one could spot him. And at 7.15am, he locked himself up in a toilet and ended his life.
“School authorities smelt a fish when he was not present during
attendance,” said Ashok Unde, senior police inspector, Dadar, where a case of suicide has been registered. “A preliminary probe indicates that he was depressed after failing in four papers.”
The class teacher informed the school authorities who immediately alerted the police. The body was sent for a post-mortem to Sion hospital.
The son of a chemist shop owner, Patil has an older sister studying in the tenth grade in the same school. The family lives in a modest two-room apartment in Lower Parel. After the news of Patil’s suicide spread, neighbours and relatives rushed to Sion hospital to offer their condolences. Shrikant Patil, his uncle, expressed shock over the death as according to him, Sushant was never pressurised to excel in academics.
“His father had a medical store. It was clear that either he would continue with it or go back to farming in his village,” said Shrikant. “In fact, he was a very happy-go-lucky child. This has come as a rude shock to the family.” Other relatives said that though Sushant was never academically bright, he always managed to get passing scores. The fact that he failed in four papers must have come as a shock to him, they added, requesting anonymity.
His neighbours too were shocked after hearing the news. “He never seemed stressed about studies. Moreover, his parents also never scolded him. It is unfortunate,” said a neighbour.
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