Tripura man, unable to buy android phone for daughter's online studies, commits suicide

Guwahati: A day labourer in Western Tripura reportedly committed suicide on Wednesday, July 1, for failing to provide a smartphone to his 15-year-old daughter for her online studies amid the closure of schools due to the COVID-19.

Krishnendu Chakraborty, Sepahijala district police chief, said that the man in question, 45-year Sukumar Bhowmik, was being pressurized by his 15-year-old elder daughter to buy an android. However, since he could not afford it, he bought her a normal phone, upon which he was scolded by both his wife and daughter. His daughter refused to accept the ordinary phone, and threw it on the floor, thereby breaking it in the process.

Unable to take the humiliation, the man committed suicide by hanging himself in a closed room in his home at Madhupur in western Tripura''s Sepahijala district early on Wednesday. The dead man's relatives have said that Sukumar was down on his luck as his meagre income had been significantly impacted by the coronavirus and the subsequent lockdown.

This development has come at a time when the Tripura Government, taking cognizance of the hardships faced by the students, announced to provide Rs 5,000 each to 14,608 students of the final year at the undergraduate level for buying smartphones under the Mukhyamantri Yuba Yogayog Yojana.

At the same time, the Government has decided not to re-open schools for the time being owing to the spread of the virus. Also, the education department led by Ratan Lal Nath has confirmed that the Tripura state Government is exempting fees for the government-run schools and colleges. The Government has also appealed to all the private schools and colleges not to increase the fees for this year due to the pandemic situation that has unfurled across the world.

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