No smartphone for online classes, Punjab girl allegedly commits suicide

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Jun 08, 2020: Upset about not having a smartphone to use for online classes, a Class 11 student from Punjab allegedly committed suicide on Friday. According to the police, the 17-year-old girl hung herself in her house in the state’s Mansa district.

The victim, who was the daughter of a farm labourer, had been asking for a smartphone for the last couple of weeks but because of their poor financial condition, the family could not buy her one, NDTV reported.

 

According to the girl’s father, she was under stress and so ended her life, the investigating officer said.

"She kept asking us for a smartphone but I am a farm labourer and couldn’t afford it. Hence she ended her life," Jagseer Singh, father of the victim said.

In February, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had said that he has not been able to fulfill his promise of distributing smartphones to the youth because of the coronavirus outbreak that emerged in China.

Earlier this month, a Class 10 student in Kerala’s Malappuram district had set herself on fire as she was unable to attend online classes. She had neither a TV nor a smartphone.

Schools and colleges across the country were closed in March ahead of a nationwide lockdown imposed by the central government to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.