Dandeli News: 14 School Girls Injure Themselves With Razor Blades, Psychiatrists To Probe Reason Behind Collective Self-Harm

A group of 14 girls from a private school in Karnataka’s Dandeli reportedly cut their left hands with razor blades on Saturday, officials said. The reason for this practice of self-harm is unclear so far, as the girls gave different and vague answers to the authorities. The district administration has sought the help of psychiatrists to counsel and support the girls, who are in emotional distress, according to a report by Hindustan Times.

The girls study in Classes 9 and 10 of a Kannada medium school. They injured themselves after school hours on Saturday afternoon. The parents noticed the cuts on their hands when they came home and contacted the school. The school informed the police, who involved the education department in the investigation.

The cuts were a few centimetres above the wrists and some girls had 14 to 15 of them. They were treated at a government health centre and are now safe. However, they did not reveal the real motive behind their actions to the police or the education officials.

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“One girl claimed she had harmed herself out of guilt for using offensive language toward her mother, a claim her mother corroborated. Another girl cited her inability to cope with her uncle’s recent death as the reason for her actions. Yet another girl mentioned that she had self-harmed because a classmate had stopped speaking to her and the classmate had done the same,” a police officer investigating the case said as quoted by HT.

The superintendent of police of Karwar said that a meeting was held with the police, education and health departments to discuss the case. He said that the case has been referred to psychiatric professionals for further evaluation. He also assured that all the students were safe.

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The deputy director of public instruction of Sirsi said that preliminary investigations suggested that some of the girls might have domestic problems. He said that he has asked the block education officer of Dandeli to record the statements of the girls in writing from Wednesday. reported by HT.

The head of the psychiatric department at Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences said that girls of this age are very sensitive and emotional. He said that they might copy their friends’ behaviour when they see them in trouble or facing problems.