Body-shamed in school, 17-year-old ends life at home in Chennai
CHENNAI: A 17-year-old boy ended his life in Chetpet on Wednesday after allegedly being subjected to body shaming in his school. His mother has told the police that despite raising the issue of the boy being body-shamed, the school management did not take any action which led to his taking the extreme step.
A complaint has been lodged against school authorities and the boy’s classmates, police said. A case of suspicious death has been registered by the Kilpauk police. Further probe is underway.
According to the police, the boy, a class XII student at a private school, committed suicide in his house on Wednesday evening. He was rushed to a private hospital but was declared dead. On being alerted, the Kilpauk police recovered the body and sent it for postmortem.
“As of now, we have registered a case of unnatural death. Only after further probe into the family’s allegations, we can arrive at a definite course of action,” police said.
Meanwhile, Child Welfare Committee officials said they were informed about the incident and were waiting for the police to complete their investigation. The committee plans to launch an awareness campaign on body shaming among school students and encourage them to call the child helpline 1098 to seek help and prevent children from taking such extreme steps, he added.
(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on TN’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050).