Veracity of girl's suicide note doubted

By Our Special Correspondent

VIJAYAWADA, FEB. 10. The suicide of Ms. Suma Reddy, student of Sri Chaitanya Mahila Junior College at Tadigadapa, took an interesting turn here today when her father doubted the veracity of the suicide note purportedly left by her.

He told BJP Mahila Morcha members that the handwriting in the suicide note did not tally with that of his daughter. He noticed several discrepancies in the note. In the suicide note, she expressed a desire that her kidney, eyes and heart should be sold and the proceeds should be used to educate her sister and two brothers. But her father said that she had only one brother. He also said that she used to address them in her letters as `amma nanna` and not like `thalli thandrulaku` as mentioned in the suicide note.

He brought these discrepancies in a complaint given to the Commissioner of Police here today. He said that though his daughter died at 8 a.m. on Friday, the college management informed him only at 12.30 pm on the telephone. When she visited her parents a fortnight ago, she expressed a wish to leave the college. But her parents persuaded her to stay for another two months to complete the first year so that they can admit her to another college at Warangal next year.

The BJP Mahila Morcha city president, Ms. P. Sesharatnam, questioned the management as to how it had removed the body to the hospital even without informing the police about the suicide and in the process destroyed vital evidence. She demanded an inquiry by a sitting Judge of the High Court into the serial suicides in the same college in the last five months. Meanwhile, organisations belonging to women and students are taking cudgels against residential colleges for imposing undue strain on students in their bid to get ranks and fame. Backward students who could not put up with 16 hours of study, weekly tests and monthly evaluations are driven to suicide, they averred.

They came down heavily on the Government for keeping quiet over the sordid affairs in residential colleges in the name of imparting education and preparing students for competitive examinations. They said that residential colleges were violating every norm of the Intermediate Board with impunity and admitted more number of students than permitted and put them to study for longer hours without any recreation. They admitted that parents, too, had to take part of the blame.

As residential colleges were collecting the entire annual fee of Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 40,000 towards tuition fee, board and lodging in advance, students were compelled to continue their studies there to avoid monetary loss to their parents. In the process, they were undergoing enormous mental strain leading to suicides, they felt.

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Section  : Southern States
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