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21-yr-old woman from Odisha joined IIT-Hyderabad, dies by suicide 12 days later
The 21-year-old from Odisha is the second IIT-Hyderabad student to have died by suicide in the last three weeks. A second-year B.Tech student, who went missing on July 19, was later found dead
HYDERABAD: A 21-year-old post-graduate student of Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H) was found dead in her hostel room on the campus at Telangana’s Sangareddy district late on Monday, police said.
She was a first-year post-graduate student and joined the master’s programme in civil engineering on July 26. Sangareddy (rural) sub-inspector of police M Rajesh Naik told reporters that she was found hanging in her room by some students at about 10pm and they immediately alerted the police.
“We recovered a suicide note from her room in which the student scribbled a two-line statement in Odia, saying that nobody was responsible for her death and that she was under severe mental pressure,” Naik said.
“We have sent the body to the Sangareddy government hospital for postmortem and informed her parents. They were on their way to Hyderabad,” Naik said.
She is the second IIT-H student to have died by suicide in the last three weeks, and the fourth over the last one year.
On July 17, a second-year engineering student from Telangana’s Nalgonda district went missing from the campus. His body was found washed ashore on the beach of Visakhapatnam three days later on July 25.
On August 31, 2022, a post-graduate student also died by suicide in his hostel room on the campus. A few days later on September 6, another B.Tech student who reportedly had backlogs to clear, also died by suicide.
A senior faculty of the IIT-H, who refused to be quoted, said there was a full-fledged counselling centre in the institute with experts in psychology, who regularly counsel students to help them cope with pressure. “Yet, such incidents continue to happen now and then,” he said.
(If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist. Helplines: Aasra: 022 2754 6669; Sneha India Foundation: +914424640050 and Sanjivini: 011-24311918, Roshni Foundation (Secundrabad) Contact Nos: 040-66202001, 040-66202000, ONE LIFE: Contact No: 78930 78930, SEVA: Contact No: 09441778290
