In a shocking incident that is only likely to increase the anti-NEET sentiment in Tamil Nadu, 17-year-old Anitha S, the Dalit girl from Ariyalur who went to the Supreme Court to fight NEET, committed suicide at her home on Friday.
News of the suicide has sent shockwaves across the state and has set social media ablaze - with people condemning the move and several politicians speaking out against the horrific incident.
Anitha is believed to have wanted to go for MBBS counselling despite having a poor NEET of 86/700 but realised that she would not get a seat. This was the last straw and the girl allegedly hung herself, a final act in a longstanding struggle to study medicine, bringing the state's MBBS admission process under a cloud again.
Anitha made the news when she impleaded the Supreme Court asking for TN to be exempted from NEET, contending that poor students like herself who had scored quite well in their boards (she had secured 1176/1200) had no shot at an MBBS seat because their NEET scores were abysmal - something that had come about after constant seesawing by lawmakers, bureaucrats and the courts.
According to sources, the body was found hanging by her parents at her house in Sendurai. The family of S Anitha, a medical aspirant from a Scheduled Caste in Kuzhumur village in Ariyalur, said she had been depressed ever since the apex court refused to exempt Tamil Nadu from NEET.
When she had gone to Delhi to file her case, she had said “But I want to be a doctor,” to The New Indian Express. That is a dream that is not likely to come true.
Commenting on the issue, G R Ravindranath, general secretary, Doctors' Association for Social Equality, said, "The centre and state should take the responsibility of the suicide. The Tamil Nadu government needs to provide relief to Anitha's family. A temporary ban on NEET can only give respect to her death."
State Health Minister Dr C Vijayabasker condemned the suicide and said that it was "shocking" and urged students not to resort to such extreme steps because there were "more rounds of MBBS counselling to come." Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishanan, who was in Delhi fighting the same case in the SC, also expressed grief at the suicide and urged students to stay brave. DMK MP M Kanimozhi also said she was "shocked" at the news of Anitha's suicide.
