Unable to buy books, 16-year-old ends life in Kolkata

KOLKATA: A 16-year-old girl, Susmita Singh, ended her life by consuming pesticide at her home on Picnic Garden Road in Kasba around 11am on Monday.
No suicide note was found but it is suspected that her father deserting them and the family’s inability to buy her books for financial reasons had impacted her emotionally.
Susmita lived with her mother (45) and brother (22) after her father deserted them nine years ago.Their mother ran a roadside eatery and her brother was forced to drop out of studies to work as a driver to make ends meet. Around 10am on Monday, Susmita’s mother left for the eatery, located nearby. When she returned home about an hour later, she found Susmita lying on the floor, unconscious and frothing at her mouth, police said. “The neighbours and relatives took her to CNMC Hospital, where she died around 1.30pm,” said DC (SSD) Rashid Munir Khan.
It was found the girl was serious about her studies but could not buy books due to financial crisis. “No suicide note has been found but her family said she had gone into a depression. Also, she was attached to her father and had become insecure in his absence,” said Khan.
In another incident, Hajra Pramanik, who was admitted to Medical College and Hospital on September 4 after he tried to end life by hanging, died on Sunday. “Pramanik, who ran a barber shop in Jadavpur East, was an alcoholic. Their family had a get-together on the evening of September 4 but Pramanik returned home drunk. This led to a fight with his wife, following which he hanged himself,” said Khan.
A computer engineer from Patna, who was employed with a top IT firm in Sector V, was also found to have died by suicide. Vikas Kumar Singh’s death was discovered after his uncle, who lived near his rented apartment in Jadavpur, could not contact him over phone and visited his place to check on him, police said.