Just a day after the tragic suicide of a 17-year-old teen from Goa over the NEET exam cancellation, a 21-year-old aspirant's suspicious death in Delhi's Adarsh Nagar area has sparked questions about exam pressure, mental health, and the paper leak case.
The police identified the NEET student as Anshika Pandey, and had allegedly intervened when her family tried to cremate her dead body without a postmortem.
Acting on a tip-off from the priest of the crematorium, the police reached there, took custody of her body, and sent it to the BJRM Hospital for a postmortem examination.
While the police suspect her death was due to suicide, they are also probing the circumstances that led to it.
According to her family members, the young student had been preparing for the NEET exam for several years, and had been confident of performing well this year.
Filled with dreams of becoming a doctor, she had also repeatedly assured her family that she would score well and secure her future, an NDTV Hindi report said.
However, the news of the NEET exam being cancelled over the paper leak row instantly put her into a state of deep depression, due to which she allegedly hanged herself on Thursday.
"She had done well in the exam, but the news of the cancellation shocked her. She was deeply upset, and in that confusion, she took this step," the report added, citing the deceased woman's maternal uncle, Munish Pandey.
Her family had also claimed that they were unaware of the legal process, because of which they had brought the body for cremation instead of taking it for a postmortem exam first.
News of the Delhi student's death comes just a day after a 17-year-old teenager from Goa's Curtorim region died by suicide over the NEET exam cancellation.
The boy, a student of a school in Margao, had left behind a note stating that he no longer wanted to participate in competitive exams. It was his father who reportedly discovered the suicide note after returning home from work.
The Maina-Curtorim police station registered the case as an unnatural death, and is pursuing further investigation, as per a Times of India report.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 AM to 10 PM.)