Kota suicide: 17-year-old wrote 5-page letter, wanted to do BSc

The 17-year-old student who committed suicide in Kota on Thursday would have rather studied bachelor in science instead of the engineering studies her parents urged her to pursue.

The 17-year-old student who committed suicide in Kota on Thursday would have rather studied bachelors in science instead of the engineering studies her parents urged her to pursue.

Kriti Tripathi, the 17-year-old girl who committed suicide in Kota on Thursday used to stay with her family in sector 17, Vasundhara in Ghaziabad before moving to Kota two years ago.(Sakib Ali /Hindustan Times)

Before leaping to her death from a multi-storeyed building, the girl wrote an emotional five-page suicide note explaining her distress at not being able to live up to her parents’ expectation, her interests regarding studies, hopes for her younger sister and an apology for her actions.

The superintendent of police, Kota city, SS Godara said Kriti Tripathi addressed her suicide letter to her parents who pushed her to study engineering in spite of knowing her disinterest in the subject. In the letter, Tripathi also asked her parents to let her younger sister, a class 11 student, pursue whichever subject she wanted.

She also addressed her sister and asked her to look after their parents. “I love you not like my younger sister but like a daughter,” she apparently wrote.

Apart from asking her mother to also take care of their family, Tripathi apologised for being unable to cope with their expectations.

Though Godara shared the details of the letter, with the investigation pending, the actual letter was not disclosed.

According to the police, Tripathi had scored 144 marks in the JEE Mains 2016 results that were declared on Wednesday. Tripathi’s score was 44 marks higher than the 100-mark cut-off.

Feelings of inadequacy in comparison with peers, lagging behind study schedules and parental pressure are usually why most students commit suicide, Godara said. Kota has a notorious reputation of student suicides given that it is a major hub for coaching centres that prepare students for competitive entrance tests to IITs, engineering institutes and medical colleges.

Many of these students are from other parts of the country and move to Kota for a year or two to undergo rigorous academic schedules.

Tripathi belonged to Ghaziabad region but was living in Kota with her parents for the past two years to attend coaching classes in preparation for IIT-JEE. They family had rented an apartment in Indira Vihar area.

Her father runs a travel agency and shuttled between Kota and Ghaziabad while her mother stayed in Kota.