Eleven-year-old hangs herself in Kolkata
Her mother alleged it followed a tiff with classmates over sharing snack during the recess hour in school.
A Class VI student committed suicide at her residence in Kolkata on Monday evening, after she reportedly entered into a disagreement with classmates over sharing of food during the school recess.
Eleven-year-old Srestha De hadn’t taken any snacks with her to school that morning, said Mohua, her mother. The squabble occurred later that day, when three friends refused to share their food with her. Upon returning home around 8 pm, Mohua found the girl hanging from the ceiling fan.
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Srestha was alone in the house when she decided to take the extreme step. While her father, Shyamal, was at his shop in the local market, her elder sister had gone out for tuitions.
The girl left behind a suicide note stating that she had a tiff with unnamed friends during the school recess. “I am leaving this world because of my best friends. It will suit everybody if I go away. Mama and papa, may you stay well,” the note said.
Srestha’s mother said she was hooked to crime shows on television. “Where else could she have got the idea to hang herself? She even took out a dupatta from the wardrobe for the purpose,” she added.
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The minor had reportedly informed her mother about the squabble after she returned from school. “I told her that such things happen, and she shouldn’t get too upset by it,” Mohua said. “She had chocolate and ice-cream after returning. She did not appear too disturbed.”
The girl’s mother also alleged that her friends’ parents had threatened to take her to the headmistress after the squabble.
Psychiatrists and police officers told HT that incidents like these showcase a growing problem of “intolerance” in urban society. “Children growing up in nuclear families gradually become self-centred,” said Samir Ganguly, a retired deputy commissioner of the Kolkata Police.
The case is being investigated by Parnasree police.