HC concerned over student suicide

Expressing its concern over concern over the alleged suicide of a law student of Amity University last August, the Delhi high court observed that it appears that there was a communication gap between the boy and people close to him.

A bench of justices G.S. Sistani and Vinod Goel said that it can’t be “believed that a 20-yearold boy ends his precious life, just because he was allegedly not allowed to sit for his next semester exam, due to shortfall of attendance”.

“Young life was lost. A person will not commit suicide only because he was not allowed to go to next semester. This can’t be the only reason. It seems that there was some gap in communication between the young boy, parents and the college authorities,” the bench observed.

It also said “even if we all believe that attendance was the reason, we could have saved his life, by better communication from all of us”.

“Were the parents aware of the reason behind such a harsh step? What did the suicide note speak about?” the court asked the counsel for the college and also the boy’s parents inside the courtroom.

Sushant Rohilla, a third year law student, hanged himself at his home in Delhi on August 10, 2016, after the university allegedly barred him from sitting for semester exams because he did not have the requisite attendance. Sushant left behind a note saying he was a failure and did not wish to live.

The Supreme Court on September 5, 2016, had taken suo motu cognisance of a letter written by a friend of the deceased student, saying it would examine whether there was an “element of suspicion” that the incident took place due to “harassment”.