13-year-old chokes to death as suicide prank goes wrong

IANS

Jalaun, 19 Sep 2023: A suicide ’prank’ by a 13-year-old boy in Uttar Pradesh’s Jalaun turned real when he slipped and the noose tightened around his neck, causing death.

 

His visually challenged mother and three younger siblings made futile attempts to rescue the victim.

 

The incident took place in Jalaun on Sunday and his mother Sangita, 50, said: "Had God not taken my sight away, I would have saved my child. He died in front of me and I could not do anything."

 

The tragedy unfolded while Jas, a Class 5 student, was playing with siblings Yash 9, Mehak 7, and Astha 5, at their home in Kanshi Ram Colony. Sangita had dozed off in another room while her husband Khem Chandra, 54, was out at work in the local grain market.

 

While playing with his siblings, Jas attempted the mock suicide and the stool he was standing on slid away.

 

Yash, Mehak, and Astha thought for a while that Jas was still in the act until they saw blood oozing out of his mouth and nose, and his body hung motionless from the rope that had been tied to a window bar, police said.

 

The children raised the alarm and began screaming, jolting Sangita out of her nap. She rushed to save him but her blindness proved an insurmountable obstacle. She searched desperately for a knife or a sickle to cut the noose but could not find one.

 

By the time Sangita alerted her neighbours, Jas had died.

 

He was rushed to a nearby hospital where the doctors declared him dead upon arrival.

 

According to Mohammad Arif, in charge of the local Orai police outpost who spoke to the family’s neighbours and others, Jas helped out at home as the eldest child. "When his father was away at work, Jas used to do most of the household chores after coming back from school as his mother could not see," the officer said.

 

The family was initially reluctant to allow a post-mortem but agreed after persuasion. "The child’s body has been handed over to the parents after autopsy," Arif said.