A 20-year-old student from Karnataka’s Belagavi died by suicide as she struggled to pay her college fees.

Mehak Sangoli, a second-year BCA (Bachelor of Computer Applications) student was found hanging inside a toilet in her house on Wednesday, December 3. She was studying in a private college and was reportedly struggling to pay ₹40,000 as her college fees.

The Times of India reported that Mehak’s father, Shakeel Sangoli, the sole breadwinner in a family of five had lost his job during the coronavirus-induced lockdown and the family was going through an extreme financial crisis. The girl’s mother is a homemaker and her brothers study in classes 4 and 10.

Shakeel had recently found another job as a helper at a grocery shop. He had been working tirelessly to arrange the money for his daughter’s education. On Wednesday, after returning from work, Shakeel found his daughter missing and the toilet was locked from inside.

‘She was a bright student and wanted to secure a good job to take care of the family. The college has been demanding ₹ 40,000 fees after it reopened in November. She was upset as I was struggling to arrange the money. She kept saying that she is a burden on the family,’ the father said.

Nandgad police registered a case of unnatural death and stated that the girl took the extreme step after seeing her father struggle to pay the fees.

In a similar incident, on November 2, a 19-year-old girl from Telangana who was studying in Delhi’s Lady Shri Ram College died by suicide as she was unable to get over the financial crisis intensified due to the coronavirus pandemic and lack of support from central and state governments.

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