14-Year-Old Boy Ends Life After Missing School Bus

A 14-year-old boy who was upset over missing his school bus allegedly killed himself by hanging on Monday, Nov.22, authorities said.

The 9th grader was found hanging by the neck from a mango tree near his home in Aamdoh, a village in the Betul District of Madhya Pradesh, India.

On Monday morning, the teen boy had left home for school but missed the bus, Ghodadongri police station in-charge, Ravi Shakya said.

"His family members told the police that he was very punctual about attending his school. He was upset after he missed the bus," the police officer said.

The boy returned home crying, according to his family members.

"He was found hanging from a mango tree in the backyard still wearing his school uniform," the boy's uncle said.

Speaking to PTI, a child specialist said: “Teenagers sometimes take such extreme steps under pressure from their parents to excel in their studies. Besides, too much exposure to social media may also trigger such tendencies.”

In a similar but unrelated incident, a 14-year-old girl allegedly killed herself after her mother rebuked her for taking her cell phone to school.

The deceased teen was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her home at Balurghata, in Kolkata, India on Thursday, Nov.18, police said.

According to the police, the deceased girl, a 10th-grade student, had been using her mother’s phone to attend online classes during the Covid-19 lockdown.

However, after schools in the state reopened, nearly after 20 months of shutdown, the mother insisted on taking her phone to work.

On Wednesday, Nov.17, the mother took away her phone from the teen.

On Thursday morning, the girl’s younger brother found his sister hanging from the ceiling fan in her bedroom.

“My daughter had become addicted to the cellphone. As Madhyamik (board) exam was due shortly and since the physical classes had begun, my wife had rebuked her on Wednesday for being hooked on to the cellphone and took it away from her. On Thursday, both of us had left for work by 6.15 am. My son found her hanging around 7 am,” the teen girl’s father said.

Psychiatrist Siladitya Ray said that phone addiction and increased screen time can lead to mental instability and is dangerous enough to tear apart the cohesive fabric of human society.

“The most reliable way to tackle this crisis is to teach children and help them to develop an insight into the core issue that excessive screen time leads to addictive behavior which eventually might go out of hand and generate frustration and disgruntlement. However, parents need to be patient,” said Ray.