Caught with phone in exam hall, Chennai girl ends life

CHENNAI: Caught with a mobile phone in an examination hall and expelled by invigilators, a 20-year-old girl pursuing a health science course on Friday leaped to death from the third floor of a private medical university near Chennai.
Sonali of Pudur was doing her BSc (allied health sciences) at Saveetha Medical College and Hospital in Thandalam near Sriperumbudur.
Police said she was among 18 students writing their second semester physics exam in a hall on the seventh floor. At 10.20am, an invigilator found Sonali using a cellphone, probably looking for answers, police said.
He seized the phone, as rules prohibit students from bringing any electronic gadgets into the exam hall, police said. Sonali was then disallowed from writing the exam and was sent out. She first told the authorities that she was just messaging someone. As it went unheeded, she stood outside the hall for a while and went away.
Police said that at around 11am, she took the stairs to reach the third floor from the seventh floor and jumped from the parapet wall. She suffered head injuries and died on the spot.
“We are probing whether she was caught two days back in a similar issue and was let off with a warning,” said a police officer.
However, her father has lodged a complaint at the Sriperumbudur police station seeking action against those responsible for her death.
(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on Tamil Nadu’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050).