Teen found dead in Delhi, suicide over marks suspected

NEW DELHI: In the third reported case this week of students dying by suicide over poor performance in board exams, an 18-yearold Class 12 student of a government school was found dead in a drain in outer Delhi’s Aman Vihar on Sunday, two days after she disappeared from her home after leaving behind a suicide note, the Delhi Police said.

Police said the student was depressed after learning of her poor performance in the board exams, the result for which was announced on Friday. Deputy commissioner of police (Rohini) GS Sidhu said the student left a suicide note saying she was upset over the result and had walked out of her home on Friday. Police did not clarify how far away the drain was from the victim’s house, but said it was in the same neighbourhood. “We have not found any foul play behind the death so far,” the officer added.

The victim lived with her parents in Nithari village of Aman Vihar. On Friday, the Class 12 results were announced and she learnt that she will have to appear for compartment exams in two subjects, the officer said.

DCP Sidhu said that the girl was dejected. Her parents said that at 3.30pm, she quietly walked out of her home and it was only later that they discovered the suicide note written by her, after which they approached the police at 9.30pm, police said.

“We launched an extensive search operation to find her. We also took all other legal steps to trace her by informing the police control room (PCR) and flashed wireless messages to all the station house officers in Delhi and all the deputy commissioners of police by describing the student. The details of the missing girl were also uploaded on Zonal Integrated Police Network (ZIPNet) but we got no response,” said the officer.

On Sunday morning, police received a call about the partly submerged body of a girl being found in a drain. “The body was taken out from the drain with the help of locals and shifted to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital. She was soon identified as the missing victim by her father,” said Sidhu.

Since there was no indication of foul play, the police initiated proceedings under the CrPC instead of registering an FIR. This is the third known case of a student dying by suicide in the Capital due to performance issues in the Class 12 board exam since Friday. In the first instance, a 19-year-old woman student died in outer Delhi’s Sultanpuri after failing. In the second case, a 16-year-old girl in west Delhi’s Hari Nagar hanged herself to death after scoring 75%.