Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

Another TN student dies by suicide fearing NEET result

- Divya Chandrabab­u letters@hindustant­imes.com (If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to: Aasra: 022 2754 6669; Sneha India Foundation: +9144246400­50 )

A day after a 19-year-old man killed himself before the scheduled National Eligibilit­y cum Entrance Test (NEET), an 18-year-old woman aspirant died by suicide over fears of not clearing the national entrance exam, police said. The incident took place on Monday, when the Tamil Nadu government passed a bill exempting the state from the exam. According to the police, the student was found dead in her home in Ariyalur district on Monday evening. Her parents claimed that she was upset as the exam appeared to be difficult. “Her family said she found the exam paper tough though she was a bright student. We are investigat­ing the cause of her death,” a police official in Ariyalur said on condition of anonymity. Daughter of an advocate, the woman studied in a private school in Namakkal district and had secured 562 out of 600 marks in her Class 12 examinatio­ns. A case of unnatural death under section 174 of the IPC was registered, police said.

CHENNAI: A day after a 19-yearold man killed himself before the scheduled National Eligibilit­y cum Entrance Test (NEET), an 18-year-old woman aspirant died by suicide over fears of not clearing the national entrance exam, police said.

The incident took place on Monday, when the Tamil Nadu government passed a bill exempting the state from the exam.

According to the police, the student was found dead in her home in Ariyalur district on Monday evening. Her parents claimed that she was upset as the exam appeared to be difficult. “Her family said she found the exam paper tough though she was a bright student. We are investigat­ing the cause of her death,” a police official in Ariyalur said on condition of anonymity.

The woman had secured 562 out of 600 marks in her Class 12 board examinatio­ns. A case of unnatural death under section 174 of the IPC was registered, police said. The NEET 2021 for admission in undergradu­ate medical courses was conducted across 202 cities on Sunday, after the Supreme Court recently rejected a plea by a group of students to postpone the exam. The top court said that it did not want to interfere with the process and it will be “very unfair” to reschedule the test.

In a statement condoling the 18-year-old’s death, chief minister MK Stalin said,.“I assure you there will be no compromise in our legal struggle to scrap NEET. We have to stop our dear students from taking their own lives and I’m saying this not just as a chief minister but also as their brother.” On Monday, all political parties, except the BJP, supported the bill, Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergradu­ate Medical Degree Courses Act 2021, through voice vote to scrap the exam and admit students to undergradu­ate programmes in medicine on the basis of their performanc­e in their Class 12 examinatio­ns — a move the state government said was in the interest of “social justice”.

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