Forced by parents to join IIT, Karnataka girl who wanted to become teacher kills self

Shivamogga, Sept 13: A first-year student from Karnataka, pursuing B Tech course in mechanical engineering at IIT-Guwahati, allegedly committed suicide by hanging on Wednesday. 

The police said Nagashree S.C., 18, from Shivamogga, left a note behind saying she wanted to be a teacher, not an engineer. 

“Her roommate had gone to attend classes. When she returned she found the room locked. She made phone calls to Nagashree which went unanswered. She then informed the security,” an IIT spokesperson said.

IIT security officials got in touch with the local police who broke open the door of the room and found the first semester student hanging from the ceiling fan. A brief suicide note written in English was found in the room.

“She wrote that it was better to die than fail to live up to the expectations of her parents and family members,” Rana Bhuyan, in-charge of Amingaon police outpost, said.

“She seemed to be depressed that she had to pursue engineering. She also wrote how she could not fulfil the expectations of her parents,” Sanjib Saikia, Additional Superintendent of Police, Kamrup, said. “Engineering sucks,” she wrote in the suicide note, according to Saikia.

“It has been barely one-and-a-half months since she joined the course,” the IIT spokesperson said adding that she had undergone the mandatory counselling session for first-year students recently. “Nothing abnormal was noticed in the interaction,” the spokesperson claimed.

IIT Guwahati has four counsellors for around 6,000 students, according to the spokesperson