Fearing parental anger, truant boy kills himself

Afraid of reprimand by his parents for his misbehaviour at school, a 13-year-old boy hanged himself inside a dry borewell in eastern Bengaluru. 

Venugopal was a class 8 student at KRLS Patel Rama Reddy English High School and son of Suresh, a private school van driver. His mother lived with her children in Domlur. 

A senior police officer said Venugopal fought with a classmate over a trivial issue on Monday and pierced him with a compass in a fit of rage. The parents of the injured boy came to the school on Tuesday and complained against Venugopal, absent at school that day. 

When Venugopal went to the school on Wednesday, the management asked him to bring his parents on Thursday. But fearful that his parents might punish him, Venugopal did not inform them about the incident. 

Soon as he came home on Wednesday, Venugopal took his mother’s sari without her knowledge and left home telling her that he was going to play. He waited until it became dark, went to the dry well and hanged himself. 

As Venugopal did not return home late into the night, his parents filed a missing complaint with Halasuru police. At 7 am on Thursday, their neighbour spotted Venugopal’s slippers and the sari tied to the iron rod on the well. They went to the well and saw the boy hanging inside the well. 

Venugopal was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. 

The parents later staged a protest before the police station demanding action against the school management, blaming them for the teenager’s death. They also staged a protest before the school, claiming teachers beat him which had forced him to commit suicide. Tension gripped the school that declared a holiday. 

The school defended its actions, saying it asked Venugopal to bring his parents since the boy was not attending school regularly and picked fights with others.