S.Anitha (17), a State Board student who filed a case in the Supreme Court against National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical admissions, has reportedly hanged herself to death at her house at Kuzhumur village near Sendurai on Friday.
Daughter of a daily wage labourer, Anitha, who belonged to the Scheduled Caste, would have qualified for a MBBS seat had admissions been held on the basis of Plus Two marks. She was reportedly dejected over not being able to join a medical college and ended her life when family members were away.
Medical aspirant S. Anitha's mark sheet.
Anitha had scored 1,176 out of 1,200 marks in Class XII and had a cut off of 196.75 for medicine. But she got only 86 marks in the NEET examination. She could not secure MBBS seat as NEET score was the basis for medical counselling this year.
She had impleaded herself as one of the respondents in the Supreme Court challenging the NEET. “I want to be a doctor and I will be assured of a seat if the admission is based on Plus Two marks,” the teenager had told the media then.
Medical college admissions in Tamil Nadu were conducted solely based on the Plus Two examination marks until last year. Though the Central government introduced NEET last year, Tamil Nadu was exempted from it. This year too, the State government sought exemption and the Legislative Assembly passed amendments to continue the existing practice in medical college admissions.
Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier said the Central government would support Tamil Nadu's ordinance, but in the Supreme Court the Centre changed its stand. The Supreme Court on August 22 directed the Tamil Nadu government to complete counselling process for medical admissions in the State on the basis of the NEET merit list by September 4.
The villagers stage road roko holding the State and centre responsible for Anitha's death.
The State's health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050 offer counselling for those in distress.
Also read: The Hindu Editorial on Tamil Nadu and NEET - A clear failure