13-year-old in Pune hangs himself after parents ask him to stop playing with mobile phone

A 13-year-old boy committed suicide on Tuesday by hanging himself from the ceiling fan after his parents asked him to stop playing with his mobile phone on Monday evening in Pune’s Dhankawadi.

The child was a Class 8 student in a city school and was described as being academically bright by his father, who works in a private company. The statement of the parents of the child could not be recorded immediately by the police.

However, when asked about what happened, the father said, “We did not physically snatch the mobile phone from him. We simply asked him to keep it aside and study since his exams were beginning from January 6. He used to play with mobile earlier as well but he started studying after we asked him to stop playing.”

“He was playing GTA: Vice City. He had downloaded it on mother’s phone,” said the boy’s 11-year-old brother. The mother of the deceased child, who is a housewife, was distraught and could not speak to anyone present in the house.

“This had happened earlier as well. This time as well his parents took his phone and did not think much of it when he stormed off and locked himself in the room. But when he did not come out for hours on end, they got worried. (When they went to check on him, they found) He had linked two leather waist belts and hung himself with it from the ceiling fan,” said senior police inspector Anil Shewale of Sahakarnagar police station.

The teenager was rushed to a local hospital and then to the Sassoon General Hospital where a post-mortem was conducted. The Sassoon hospital informed the police about the incident.

The death of the child was registered as an accidental death report.