‘Constantly troubled, was good at acting’: Friends remember Delhi student who died by suicide

A16-year-old educatee’s demise by felo-de-se led to a immense resist outside Delhi’s St Columba’s School on Friday as nearly 100 people, including parents, students and family friends, gathered carrying placards and calling for accountability.The protesters spoke out against students being singled out over unpaid fees, while others protested against teachers who warned they would slap children or make fun of them in front of the whole class, as mentioned in an earlier HT report.Notably, a class 10 student on Tuesday jumped from an elevated metro station in West Delhi after leaving a note behind that accused his teachers and headmistress of harassment. According to his friends and family members, the boy was going through “targeted harassment” while the school allegedly ignored the warning signs.The boy's friends recalled the last hours where they frantically searched for him after his mother called to say he had not returned home.“We kept looking for him for almost an hour around the school. Later we were told to go back. We heard aunty crying in the background. Then uncle called and said he had found him… and that he was gone,” one of the friends said.ALSO READ | ‘He was shaking’: Witness recalls rickshaw ride with Delhi teen before his suicide‘Wanted to become an actor'The friend said that he and the victim, along with his two other friends were constantly “picked on” by teachers.“We were constantly troubled, scolded, humiliated. We didn’t think he would take such a step. He was so good at acting and writing. He wanted to become an actor,” he said.Another friend said that the Class 10 student wrote drama scripts “in minutes” and loved performing. “He admired the actors who had studied here. He used to say he wanted to carry the legacy forward like SRK," he added.Protests after student's suicideThe protesters held after the incident called for accountability and also against the school’s alleged harassment of students and their family members.Among the protesters was a mother who alleged that one of the school’s teachers had humiliated her son, who was admitted under the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) quota, over unpaid fees.She told HT, “My son was in Class 8 then. Every day, this teacher made him stand up and asked him to et the fees pgaid, even though other EWS parents hadn’t paid either. Kids laughed at him. After a month of this humiliation, we finally paid.”The woman also claimed that as the media coverage over the suicide case picked up, students were made to sit inside their classrooms the whole day without bathroom breaks over fear that they would “talk to each other”.Notably, she is not the only one complaining of the school’s alleged harassment of the students. Parents who had gathered to protest made similar allegations that their children were singled out for minor mistakes and also had to face taunts by teachers.Discussing suicides can be triggering for some. However, suicides are preventable. A few major suicide prevention helpline numbers in India are 011-23389090 from Sumaitri (Delhi-based) and 044-24640050 from Sneha Foundation (Chennai-based).