Bengaluru, 20 May

A 23-year-old student at a private coaching academy here allegedly died by suicide due to mental harassment and humiliation in front of his class over poor academic performance, police said on Wednesday.

The deceased is Chunnu Kumar, a native of Bereva village in Bihar’s East Champaran.

Following a complaint by Kumar’s father, a case has been registered at Kothanur Police Station under Sections 108 (abetment of suicide), 351(2) (criminal intimidation), and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against academy staff, a senior police officer said.

According to the FIR, Kumar had joined the banking coaching programme at the private academy in March.

On 18 May, Kumar’s father received a phone call from the hostel informing him that his son had died by suicide.

The next day, when he arrived at the academy with his family and spoke to Kumar’s friends, they told him that Kumar had repeatedly said the academy management, Head of Department, and Programme Head were mentally harassing him

The complainant said Kumar’s friends further stated that, after Kumar failed in some subjects, he was allegedly called into a classroom and humiliated in front of others. “They (academy management) allegedly told him that he was incapable in every respect, assigned him excessive project work, used abusive language in front of others, insulted him, and subjected him to mental harassment,” the FIR stated.

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