College Student Ends Life After Being "Forced" To Attend Offline Classes By Parents

A college student in Andhra Pradesh ended her life after being allegedly forced by her parents to attend offline classes. The 16-year-old girl student used to study at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (IIT-Srikakulam). The incident took place in the deceased girl's hostel room on Wednesday.

*Trigger warning. This article contains details of an incident about self-harm.

The deceased girl named Kondapalli Maneesha Anju is from Nellimarla in Vizianagaram. According to the Etcheria Sub-Inspector K Ramu, she was studying her first year in the IIT. Since the commencement of the academic year, she has been attending online classes.

College student ends life: didn't want to attend offline classes

Recently, the IIT administration gave options to the students on whether they wanted to attend offline or online classes. This option was given when the number of COVID-19 cases began to decline.

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Anju wanted to continue her online classes but it is alleged that her parents insisted that she attended offline classes and brought her to the college campus from her home in Nellimarla.

The investigating officers said that after dropping her off, the parents returned home. The student was allegedly angered by the attitude of her parents and threw her mobile phone away. The next day, her parents allegedly got her a new phone.

However, on February 16, she took the extreme step of ending her life. The same day morning, some girls in her hostel found her room locked from inside. Alarmed, they went on to alert the authorities at the college. Later, when they broke the door and entered her, Anju was found hanging from the ceiling fan.

The investigating officer said that a case under section 174, which deals with a suspicious death, of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) has been registered.

In January, the education minister Audimulapu Suresh had said that the schools and colleges in the state were going to reopen after the Sankranti holidays. The government had also directed a proper implementation of COVID-19 protocols to ensure the safety of students.

Suresh said, "COVID-19 vaccinations administration was administered to 95 percent of 15 years to 18 years of age group students so far. Vaccination will be administered to the remaining five percent students very soon."