Pressured by family to join IIT-Guwahati, student from Karnataka commits suicide

GUWAHATI: An Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT-G) student from Karnataka allegedly killed herself in her hostel room on Wednesday, leaving behind a note that said it was better to die than fail to live up to her relatives’ expectations, the police said. 

The body of the first-year B Tech mechanical engineering student, Nagashree SC, was found hanging from a ceiling fan. “She didn’t go to college today (Wednesday), and later, her roommate found the door locked from inside. On being informed by the IIT-G authorities, the police came in, broke open the door and found the body hanging,” IIT-G spokesman Labanu Konwar told TNIE.

The police recovered a piece of paper which reportedly said she wanted to be a teacher and not an engineer. Konwar said Nagashree underwent counselling a few days ago and nothing peculiar was found about her. 

In Shivamogga, Nagashree’s grandfather Sridhar Udupa had a different take. “She was a very bold girl and very intelligent too. Before moving to Guwahati, she said she got the same discipline – mechanical engineering – that she was aspiring for,” he said.

This is the fifth incident of suicide by an IIT-G student in the past five years.