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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

176 - Rising expectations force Jabalpur youths to commit suicide


Manjari Mishra, TNN Jan 10, 2013, 05.42PM IST

JABALPUR: Fourteen year old Sameer (name changed) just hated maths and did not have the courage to tell his parents who wanted him to crack IIT entrance. Unable to cope with the pressure Sameer opted for the easy way out. 

On way back from school last summers he bought a can of pesticide mixed it in his mango shake and gulped it before anyone could suspect anything wrong. Death was painful but fast for the boy who his parents swear was too full of life to contemplate ending it in such a gruesome manner.

Psychiatrists find it difficult to explain this phenomenon. But with its highest recorded cases- last year the tally touched an all time high at 779- , Jabalpur earns the dubious distinction of being the suicide capital of Madhya Pradesh. 

The disturbing inclusion of the minor's among the victims has experts particularly in knots. In 2012 out of 482 suicides recorded , 68 covered boys and girls below the age of 18. The list, it is widely believed, could be much longer as number of cases in the suburb normally tend to go unreported. Factors triggering off the tendency varied from examination phobia, bad results (a major killer it claimed 21 victims), spat with parents and broken heart, over sensitivity to ridicule and even eve teasing in two cases where two teen girls ended lives in frustration.