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.
The Dalit girl, daughter of a daily wage labourer, was alone at her house and took the extreme step apparently dejected over not being able to get a MBBS seat.
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.
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