A 14-year-old girl committed suicide in Aska in Ganjam district after her parents said they didn’t have enough money to buy her basic stationeries like a pencil and a notebook and other study materials.
Jayanti had been requesting her parents to pay some money for her studies after the school, where she was recently promoted to Class 7, opened June 23. Her parents said they needed some time to arrange the money. Upset over the delay, Jayanti on Wednesday poured kerosene on herself and set her body on fire at home when her parents were away, police sources said. She sustained over fifty per cent burn injuries. Some neighbours rescued her and took her to the local hospital where she died.
The girl’s father Bijay Nayak is a daily wage worker and recently suffered a paralytic stroke and is now unable to add to the family income. Her mother Iswari works as a maid. The couple has three other minor children.