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‘Barred’ from attending school, teenager kills self
For one whole week he stayed at home, listening to his mother's muffled cries and witnessing his father's efforts to scrounge the money to put him back in school.
For one whole week he stayed at home, listening to his mother's muffled cries and witnessing his father's efforts to scrounge the money to put him back in school.
But on Thursday morning, 15-year-old Aljin Kurian Varghese gave up. He committed suicide by hanging at his Hastsal house in west Delhi. In his suicide note, the teenager apologised to his family for his "mistake".
A student of Adarsh Public School C-Block, Vikaspuri, Aljin had stopped attending school after his school allegedly did not allow him to attend classes.
His parents claimed that the school started demanding fees even though it had waived off his fee till Class 12. His mother Leelamma Varghese had worked at the school for many years because of which the school had waived off the fee.
"I worked as a nurse at the school eight years ago. Even after I left, my son continued at the school," said Leelamma.
But, the parents alleged, at the start of this year the school started pressurising them to pay fees or take him out of the school.
"We agreed to pay the fee but the school said our son would only be allowed to sit for the exams and not attend classes. They also said my son's behaviour was bad and that was another reason for not allowing him in class," said PV Varghese, the boy's father.
The school administration was not available for any comments.
His father said Aljin had almost stopped talking to anyone in the family over the one-week period. "He desperately wanted to go to school," added Varghese.
In his suicide note, which the family found on him later, Aljin had written that he loved his parents and his 9-year-old brother. He had also apologised for his 'mistake'.
The police said at 8:30 on Thursday morning his mother returned from her night shift at a private hospital. She found her son's body in one of the rooms and called for help.
The police have registered a case of suicide.
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