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Officials said that the NEET aspirant, who was preparing for the NEET exam scheduled for May 4, was stressed because she had failed in her last four attempts.
Representative image of Tamil Nadu Police | ANI
A 21-year-old female student preparing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) allegedly died by suicide near Chennai, Tamil Nadu, due to fear of underperforming in the medical entrance exam, police said on Saturday.
Officials said that the NEET aspirant, Devadharshini, who was preparing for the NEET exam scheduled for May 4, was stressed because she had failed in her last four attempts.
Her father, Selvaraj, owns a bakery in Kilambakkam, located about 40 km from Chennai. The family relocated there from the Tamil Nadu capital after their previous bakery in the city struggled financially.
The girl student had reportedly told her parents about the stress that she was going through, said an official. She was at her father’s bakery on Friday and told him that she was going home and would return in a few hours.
When she didn’t return after some time, her mother rushed home and found her hanging, NDTV reported. No suicide note was found at the scene.
At least 20 NEET aspirants have died by suicide in Tamil Nadu in the past eight years.
On March 1, a 19-year-old student from Tindivanam in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district allegedly died by suicide due to fear of underperforming in the NEET.
AIADMK Slams DMK Govt
The Tamil Nadu government has long opposed NEET, arguing that the exam is unfair to economically disadvantaged and Tamil-medium students.
In June 2024, the state’s Legislative Assembly passed a unanimous resolution against NEET, following controversies over leaked NEET-UG 2024 question papers and the postponement of NEET-PG 2024.
However, after the Devadharshini suicide case, AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami slammed Chief Minister MK Stalin and his party, accusing them of deceiving students by promising that NEET would not be held in Tamil Nadu if the DMK came to power.
நீட் தேர்வு அச்சத்தால் சென்னையில் தர்ஷினி என்ற மாணவி தன் இன்னுயிரை மாய்த்துக்கொண்டதாக வரும் செய்தி அதிர்ச்சியளிக்கிறது.நீட் என்ற தேர்வை நாட்டிற்கே அறிமுகப்படுத்தி, கூட்டணி கட்சியுடன் சேர்ந்து அதனை உச்சநீதிமன்றம் வரை சென்று வாதாடி, தமிழ்நாடு மாணவர்களின் மருத்துவக் கனவை சிதைத்திட…
— Edappadi K Palaniswami-SayYEStoWomenSafety&AIADMK (@EPSTamilNadu) March 29, 2025
“The DMK lied and deceived students by saying there would be no NEET in Tamil Nadu if it came to power. Are the continuing deaths because of NEET not a cause for concern for the DMK?” Mr Palaniswami wrote in Tamil on X.
“How are you going to wipe away the bloodstains that keep accumulating on your hands from the big lie you told for electoral gains,” he asked.
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