A teenage girl (14) allegedly died by suicide after her parents failed to buy a smartphone for her online classes, which are being held because of the prevailing social distancing norms due to the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak.
The incident occurred at a small village in Tripura’s Sepahijala district on Thursday evening.
This is the second death by suicide over smartphones reported from the district and the state in July.
The girl had asked her parents for a smartphone in a bid to facilitate her attendance in online classes. Her father, a daily-wage labour, however, cited financial constraints and sought more time to fulfil her wish, police said.
This led to an altercation between the daughter and the parents on Thursday morning. Later, the parents went out for work and found her dead, when they reached home in the evening.
“The body was handed over to her parents after an autopsy. An unnatural death case has been registered,” said Anamika Datta, sub-inspector (S-I), Sonamura police station.
In a separate but similar kind of incident, a farmer (50) died by suicide in Sepahijala district on July 1 out of frustration after he failed to buy a smartphone for his daughter to attend her online classes due to an acute fund crunch.
{{/usCountry}}In a separate but similar kind of incident, a farmer (50) died by suicide in Sepahijala district on July 1 out of frustration after he failed to buy a smartphone for his daughter to attend her online classes due to an acute fund crunch.
{{/usCountry}}In Tripura, all educational institutions are still closed because of the pandemic and classes are being held online in line with the state government’s order.