In the space of four days, the IIIT campus at Nuzvid in Andhra has been rocked by two suicides. After a student committed suicide earlier in the week, another student killed herself by allegedly jumping off the hostel building.
Sixteen-year-old Dabbaka Ramadevi, hailed from Vandanapeta of Srikakulam district. Ramadevi was studying in first year PUC (pre-university course) at the university. Ramadevi had recently returned to the institute after spending Dussera holidays back home.
Nuzvid DSP V Srinivas Rao, who visited the campus as part of the investigation, told TNM, "It was college staff who found her lying on the floor near her hostel at around 6am on Saturday. They took her to the local hospital and later to Vijayawada MJ Naidu, where she died while undergoing treatment.”
He added, “We have spoken with her roommates and according to them, she was upset about her academic performance. They had seen her conversing with her parents about her "poor performance” and they apparently reassured her and told her that she could perform well.”
The DSP also said, "As per our primary investigation, we found it to be a suicide.”
He said that the college authorities informed police at 11.50am and we have registered a case of suspicious death and are probing.
The parents of the deceased are yet to reach Vijayawada. Following their arrival, further steps will be taken, according to the police.
Earlier in the week, the same campus witnessed suicide of another student, Laxmi Narsimha Murthy, who had hanged himself in the hostel room. Following this, state HRD minister Ganta Srinivas Rao had ordered a probe into the incident.
When asked about the growing incidence of suicides among students, Srinivas Rao said, "Many of these students come from rural and Telugu medium background. Somehow they are finding it difficult to cope with the curriculum which is in English, and high expectations are also putting undue pressure on them.”