Telangana student of Delhi LSR college ends life due to financial woes

A 19-year-old student of the Lady Shriram College for Women died by suicide last week allegedly due to lack of financial means to study.

Aishwarya Reddy, student of BSc, Mathematics at the reputed college in New Delhi, hanged herself at her home in Shadnagar in Telangana on November 2. The student’s death came to light on Monday.

The LSR unit of the Student Federation of India, a Left student organisation, has alleged that Aishwarya was forced to end her life, as her INSPIRE scholarship provided by the Ministry of Science and Technology, was delayed, “resulting in extreme financial pressure.”

Read | LSR student's suicide: Students, women groups stage stir in Delhi

Aishwarya was a topper in her town, scoring 98.5% in intermediate (+2). She then joined the undergraduate course in the nation’s capital, residing in LSR’s hostel.

Aishwarya has been at home since the Covid-19 lock-down in March and was finding it difficult to cope with the online classes without a laptop. Her father Srinivas Reddy, a motor vehicle mechanic, could not afford the gadget. The lesser income because of the pandemic has compounded their financial woes.

The family has reportedly mortgaged their one-room house already to provide for their elder daughter’s education. Aishwarya’s younger sister Vaishnavi had to discontinue studies after 8th standard.

The extreme step by the daughter even as her father was exploring ways to arrange a laptop has shocked the locality.

In a purported suicide note in Telugu, Aishwarya wrote, “My education has become an economic burden on my parents. But I cannot live without education.”

“Please see that the INSPIRE scholarship amount of at least one year is received (by her family),” she says in the note.

Reddy, the aggrieved father says, “Do not assume that all Reddys (a forward caste community) are rich. My appeal to the government is to aid the poor students; remove this OC, BC etc. categorisation.”