Kota's cry for help: 8 died since June 24, at least 45 others told helpline they didn't want to live either

In the 55 days between June 24 and August 18 this year, eight students died by suicide in Kota, part of the 23 such deaths that have taken place in 2023, already the highest since the district administration began collecting such data in 2015. But in a sign of just how deep the mental health crisis in India’s coaching hub is, in those 55 days alone, Kota Abhay Command Centre — a special students’ cell set up by the police on June 22 that works to prevent such suicides — intervened after distress calls from 45 more students who were contemplating suicide.

- Senjuti Sengupta

As an HT analysis of the 23 student suicides in Kota in 2023 showed, more than half involve minors, 12 died by suicide within six months of arriving in town, and many were from families that are either poor or part of the lower middle-class. On June 22, by which time there had already been 13 deaths in Kota, the district police set up a 11-member cell headed by assistant superintendent of police (ASP) Chandrasheel Thakur, that also has three inspectors and seven constables to try and prevent such cases. The cell has a helpline number that has since been widely publicised in town, with distress calls received on the district collector’s public helpline numbers also forwarded to it.

The cell’s monthly reports for the last two months, between June 24 and August 18, seen by HT, shows that the department intervened in 45 cases where they received calls that suggested callers that were under severe depression.