Government women’s polytechnic student dies by suicide in hostel

NEW DELHI: A 17-year-old student of a government polytechnic institute for women committed suicide in Latur district of Maharashtra on Tuesday afternoon, police said. The first-year diploma student in computer engineering at the Government Residential Women's Polytechnic, who hailed from Mangyal village of Nanded district, hanged herself in the college hostel on the last day of her exam, they said.

According to the police, the last exam of the current semester was scheduled from 2 pm to 5 pm. However, she returned to the hostel at around 3 pm while the exam was still underway and used a scarf to hang herself in her room. The incident came to light when other students returned to the hostel after the exam. They knocked on her room's door repeatedly, but received no response. When they peered through the window, they found her hanging, said the police.

Police rushed to the scene and sent the body for post-mortem at the Latur Government Hospital. While preliminary observations suggest exam stress as a possible reason for the extreme step, police have not ruled out other causes. A clear picture is expected to emerge after statements from her parents and further investigation, said the police.

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Deceased had scored 96% in Class 10, was considered meritorious

"College staff informed me about the student's suicide in the hostel room. I am currently in Bengaluru. She had some pending subjects from the first semester and was currently appearing for her second-semester exam," said in-charge principal of the college, Suryakant Rathod. According to her academic records, the deceased was a meritorious student who had scored 96 per cent marks in her Class 10 board exams.

Based on her academic performance, she had secured admission to the computer engineering diploma course in the college. The teenager's devastated family reached Latur late in the evening.