A 19-year-old student was found dead at her home in Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj, a day after reappearing in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), police said on Tuesday.
In a note she purportedly addressed to her brother on her question paper, she wrote in Hindi that she was “not capable of anything”.
A preliminary probe suggested the student was distressed over her NEET performance. Investigators suspect examination-related stress may have contributed, though the exact circumstances of her death were being examined.
The student aspired to become a doctor and follow in the footsteps of her brother, who cleared NEET in 2021. Her family said they found her hanging and rushed her to a district hospital, where doctors declared her dead.
Nirbhay Kumar Singh, a police officer, said they seized the question paper for forensic and handwriting examination. “The body has been sent for post-mortem, and all aspects of the case are being investigated. Further action will be taken based on the findings,” Singh said.
The student’s brother said there was no pressure on her from the family. “She assessed her expected performance in the examination and appeared upset,” he said. He added that their father, a farmer, worked tirelessly to support the education of all three of his children and that the family was devastated by the loss.
NEET retest
The NEET (Undergraduate) was rescheduled to June 21 after the exam was cancelled on May 12, even though 2.27 million students had taken it across 551 cities. The central agencies found that the question paper was compromised. It was the second time in two years that NEET came under scrutiny
A 20-year-old student, due to reappear for the NEET, died after falling from the third floor of a building in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore last Thursday. It was the latest in a series of such cases since the cancellation of the test on May 12 due to the compromised paper.
Two NEET aspirants died in Uttarakhand and Rajasthan last week, with police suspecting the cases to be of suicide. In Dehradun, a 23-year-old woman preparing for the NEET was found dead in her room. A handwritten note recovered from the spot purportedly suggested that the woman was depressed.
In Rajasthan’s Sikar district, a 22-year-old NEET aspirant was found dead ahead of his third NEET attempt.
Discussing suicides can be triggering for some. However, suicides are preventable. If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist.
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