Story of Aaditya Prabhu, the college student who died by suicide

Aaditya Prabhu was a 19-year-old CSE student at the PES College of Engineering, Bengaluru. On Monday, the boy committed suicide after complaining that the college authorities harassed him. The incident happened after he was caught with a cell phone during an exam. Aaditya’s mother has raised several questions pertaining to the conduct of the college authorities at the time of the incident. She has taken to social media to demand justice for her son. 

Aaditya Prabhu Suicide case explained

On the Instagram page titled @justiceforaadityaprabu, the mother of the student narrated the whole ordeal. She called it her side of the story.

“I am Aaditya Prabhu's mother. He was a student (19 years old) of PES college, RR road campus, CSE 1st year student. On July 17th Aditya jumped from the 8th floor of a building on the campus and committed s**cide. The college announced to the media that Aditya was caught cheating and copying during the examination. He was detained. He was counselled and when he was told that parents would be informed, he jumped from the building. I want to tell our side of the story here.” (sic)

The mother said that Aaditya had called her at 11:55 AM on July 17th. He told her that he had forgotten to put his phone in the bag before the exam. The phone was discovered by the invigilators, post which he was detained and harassed by them. He also asked her to come to college.

Aaditya’s mother further wrote that after she reached college, she was made to wait for hours. Ambiguous statements about her son’s whereabouts were given. She was taken to the other end of the campus. It was there that she noticed an ambulance and police in waiting, post which the news of her son’s suicide was given to her.

Aditya’s mother raised several important questions about the whole incident. While acknowledging that cheating is wrong, she said that despite being caught, no student should be put through harassment. Aaditya should not have been left alone in the room in such a fragile state of mind. Why wasn’t she informed about the death of her son immediately? Why were wrong statements given to the police?

She alleged that all attempts were made by the college to brush off their hands from the incident. No authorities were present during the entire process except for the admin.

Suicide epidemic

Aaditya’s case only adds to hundreds of other student suicide cases in the country. More often than not, caste discrimination in educational institutions also plays a role in perpetuating feelings of inadequacy in students from backward communities.

In a society where academic excellence is linked to family honour, students find it hard to cope with the stress that this pressure brings. According to the National Crime Records Bureau data, the percentage of students committing suicide has sharply risen by 21.19 per cent since 2019. The data collected since 1995 reveals that more than 1.8 lakh students have committed suicide, of which 2020 has recorded the highest number. In 2020, a student took their own life every 42 minutes; that is, every day, more than 34 students died by suicide. The situation calls for deep introspection on various aspects of the country’s educational system. 

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