Final-year student from ILS Pune ends life

Kale’s family hails from Satara and is now settled in Delhi. His father works with the Merchant Navy.

Those who knew Siddharth said he was worried about his low attendance which may have disallowed him from taking the final-year exam. He had already spent seven years for the five-year BCLLB course and was terrified at the thought of spending another year, they said.

Hostel rector Santosh Jaybhay said that the incident came to light around 1 pm on Saturday when a friend of Siddharth’s went to see him in his room.

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“Final-year students are allotted single occupancy rooms. Siddarth stayed in his room alone. One of his friends had gone to see him in the afternoon. The door was shut but was not bolted from inside. When the student entered the room, he found Kale’s body hanging. Soon after, we were informed,” said Jaybhay.

The Deccan Police said Siddharth did not leave behind any suicide note.

“We are probing to find out the exact reason, but we strongly suspect he took the step due to academic pressure. We have not found any suicide message left by him,” said Pravin Chougule, Senior Police Inspector, Deccan Police Station.

Siddharth’s friends said he was a “bright student with good command over English language” and one who got along well with everyone. He was also active in debating circles and, in fact, he had returned from Hyderabad two days ago after participating in a debating event.

“He had lost two years in the past due to low attendance and was worried over the prospect of losing another year as he knew his attendance was lower than required. Academic year’s loss due to attendance issues is a lingering fear in the institute,” said a student who knew Siddarth but refused to be identified.

College authorities informed Siddharth’s parents after his body was shifted to Sassoon General Hospital for autopsy. His parents were scheduled to reach Pune late Saturday night.

PAST INCIDENTS

*January 2014: First-year law student, Saumitra Dhoble, committed suicide after being awarded zero marks in an examination. After the incident, students had alleged discrepancies in Pune University’s marking system after which college authorities had approached the varsity and a committee was instituted to look into it.

*October 2010: A 19-year-old female student of the ILS Law College in Pune, who hailed from Dehradun, was admitted to a hospital after she consumed 15 tablets of a painkiller. The second-year student lived in the hostel and at the time of incident, it was said to be was a case of exam stress due to which she over-consumed medicines for her headache rather than a suicide attempt.

(Compiled by Alifiya Khan)