On Saturday (February 3), the Kota district administration said that the hostel where a NEET aspirant from Uttar Pradesh committed suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan has been seized. The officials said that action was taken after it was found that the hostel lacked ‘anti-suicide devices’ in ceiling fans.
On January 23, a 19-year-old student Mohammad Zaid from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in his hostel room at Kanchan Residency in Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, which comes under the Jawahar Nagar police station precinct.
The action against the hostel was taken after it was found to be in violation of student safety norms, according to a press statement on Friday evening by Kota district collector Dr Ravindra Goswami.
Goswami added that an inquiry was launched by the additional district magistrate court after a student allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a hostel room last month, and based on the inquiry report, the ADM court directed to take action under CrPC Section 133 and seize the hostel Kanchan Residency in Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Talwandi Kota.
ADM Brijmohan Bairwa stated that the residency has 32 rooms, 10 of which are taken up by students, and the rest 22 rooms have been vacated. The hostel’s director and warden have been directed to shift the remaining ten students to another residency by February 5th. Written orders have been issued to ensure full compliance with the orders issued by the Director and Warden of the Residency.
Anti-suicide device
In August last year, the Kota district administration issued an order requiring all hostels and paying guest (PG) accommodations to install spring-loaded ceiling fans in every room “to provide students mental support and security”. These spring-loaded fans work as an ‘anti-suicide device’ since as soon as the weight on the fan exceeds 20 kg, the fan comes down with the spring, thus preventing the person from ending their life.
Kota suicides
It is worth noting that in recent months, several cases of student suicides have been reported in Rajasthan’s Kota, the hub of coaching centres in the country. On February 2, it was reported that a 27-year-old student pursuing the final year of an online BTech course in Chennai was found deceased in an apparent suicide in a rented room located in the town’s Vigyan Nagar area. The student hailing from Uttar Pradesh was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his rented room.
There have been three suicides in Kota this year. Earlier this week, an 18-year-old girl from Kota’s Borkheda was found hanged in her house. According to authorities, the deceased was living with her father, who worked in a bank and was retaking Class 12. The girl was under a lot of pressure due to the competitive exams.
In 2023, 26 student suicides were reported in Kota. Notably, Kota is a hub where students from all across the country come to prepare for competitive tests such as the National Entrance Exam (JEE) for admission to top engineering colleges.
