Tamil Nadu girl dies by suicide over NEET

Jayankondam/Chennai: A girl who appeared for NEET and aspired to pursue medical education died by suicide at a village in Ariyalur District, the second such death within two days in Tamil Nadu. Hours after her death, the Chief Minister assured students and parents that there would be no compromise in the legal struggle to fully remove NEET

DMK Youth Wing Secretary and son of Chief Minister M K Stalin, Udhayanidhi Stalin, said the death of the student caused huge mental agony and grief.

"The sale of question paper for Rs 35 lakh is the fresh example of NEET being only a thing of betrayal and conspiracy. Suicide is not the solution for the Union's NEET conspiracy," Udhayanidhi, who is also an MLA from a Chennai constituency, tweeted.

Pointing to the passage of a Bill in the Assembly on September 13, Stalin said, "right from the beginning, we are opposing NEET, which is shattering the dreams of Tamil Nadu students to pursue medical education. We have started a legal struggle in full swing with the passing of the Bill, supported by all parties, barring the BJP." He said there would be no compromise till NEET is removed by getting the assent of President Ram Nath Kovind to the Bill, which provides for admission to medical courses based on the Class XII marks.

The Chief Minister said that a slew of incidents, including impersonation, sale of question papers and dishonest practices in coaching centres continued to expose that NEET is not a test to judge eligibility. "Our government is continuing to take all steps to remove NEET, which is ruining equality in education," he said.

Expressing anguish and sorrow over the death of the girl, Stalin appealed to students and the parents, saying "there must be an end to suicides." He requested parents to nurture confidence among their children and added "let us stop the tragedy of ending one life's for the sake of life saving medical education. Let us drive out NEET through legal struggle." The Chief Minister conveyed his condolences and sympathies to the bereaved family.

The 17-year old girl, Kanimozhi, took the extreme step when her parents were away on September 13 night and they found her hanging on returning home within a span of a few hours, police said.

Daughter of a lawyer, Kanimozhi, hailing from a village near Jayankondam in Ariyalur District, is the 16th medical aspirant from Tamil Nadu to end her life, fearing outcome of the test. Dhanush, a 19-year old boy, died by suicide on September 12, hours before he was to take the test.

Kanimozhi appeared for the national test on Sunday and had told her parents that some questions were tough and that she was concerned about the outcome, a police officer said, adding "investigation is still on." In a PTI report, another official quoted as saying that police received information early today and the body was sent for post-mortem to a government hospital and later handed over to the family.

Meanwhile, the opposition AIADMK demanded ruling DMK to stop its "political drama" over NEET, pointing out the ruling party's statement targeting the Union government which said that the national test was a "conspiracy" while asserting suicide is not a solution for it.

AIADMK top leader K Palaniswami, expressing shock and grief over Kanimozhi's death by suicide, appealed to the student community not to take such extreme steps and emphasised that "life is for living" and there are a whole lot of courses open to them and medical education alone is not life. Condoling her death, he said "let Kanimozhi's death be the final loss of life over NEET." Palaniswami, who is the Leader of the Opposition, said the DMK should stop its "political drama" and give up being a "spectator" of suicide by students due to the fear of NEET.