New Delhi: A 17-year-old boy, identified as Yatharth Raghuvansh, tragically died by suicide at a shooting academy in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The incident has cast a pall of shadow over the academy and raised broader concerns about the alarming rise in student suicides across India.
Yatharth, the son of a sports officer from Ashok Nagar, had been training at the academy for two years. He reportedly shot himself with a 12-bore shotgun in the academy’s restroom. The reason for his actions remains unclear, as no suicide note was found. Police are investigating, and interviewing family members and the academy staff to try and understand the circumstances leading up to the tragedy. The academy has been temporarily closed in the aftermath of the incident.
This tragic event comes against the backdrop of a concerning national trend. A recent report, “Student Suicides: An Epidemic Sweeping India,” unveiled at the Annual IC3 Conference and Expo 2024, reveals a sharp increase in student suicides in India, significantly outpacing both population growth and the overall suicide rate.
Analysing data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the report highlights a disturbing disparity. While overall suicides in India increased by an average of 2 per cent annually over the past two decades, student suicides surged by 4 per cent, twice the national rate. Although there were slight fluctuations in the total number of student suicides in 2021 (13,089) and 2022 (13,044), the trend of accelerating increase remains evident.
