A 13-year-old girl has allegedly died by suicide in Nagpur on Sunday, November 23, after her parents refused to buy her a mobile phone, police said. The incident took place in the slum area near the Hanuman Temple in the Chanakpur area. The girl, a student of Class 8 liked to play games on mobile phones and asked her parents to buy her a mobile phone, which they refused. Upset over the refusal, she hanged herself to death when she was alone at home.
Subsequently, her mother and sister discovered her pale body upon returning. A case of accidental death was registered by the police, and the body was sent to the Mayo Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
Not An Isolated Incident
This was not an isolated tragedy in the state. Earlier, the financial capital had witnessed a similar incident where a 16-year-old boy from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar died after jumping from a hill when his mother refused to buy him a mobile phone. According to investigating officials, the teenager was preparing for a police recruitment exam and showed no signs of mental stress.
Similarly, in 2024, a 15-year-old boy died by suicide after his mother refused to get him a mobile phone on his birthday in Maharashtra. The boy tragically took the drastic step at night while his mother and sister were asleep. In the same year, in July, an 18-year-old boy died by suicide in Navi Mumbai after his father refused to buy him an iPhone.
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According to the official testament of his father, the boy wanted an iPhone costing roughly Rs 1.5 lakh. However, when his father got him a low-cost Vivo phone, his son became mentally depressed and took the drastic step.
The increasing number of teen suicides linked to mobile phones underscores a growing dependence on digital media, which appears to be contributing to such incidents.
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