Bengaluru: 13-year-old dies by suicide at home, police suspect mobile phone addiction
Bengaluru: A 13-year-old boy died by suicide at his home in Byadarahalli police station limits on Tuesday night. The boy, identified as Dhruva, was a resident of Ratnanagar near Gollarahatti on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
According to police, the incident occurred while Dhruva and his younger sister were alone at home, as their parents were at work. He attempted to hang himself using his 'udadaara' (a sacred thread worn around the waist in certain South Indian cultures), but it snapped, causing him to fall. Around 7 p.m., his mother returned home and rushed him to the hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.
Preliminary investigations suggest Dhruva spent excessive time on his mobile phone despite repeated warnings from his parents. Officials suspect his addiction may have influenced his actions, though the exact reason is still under investigation. His father works at a bakery, and his mother is employed at a garment factory.
This is not the first such incident in Karnataka. On November 24, 2024, a 14-year-old boy in Bengaluru died after his father beat him over excessive mobile phone use. Similarly, on September 6, 2024, a 13-year-old boy in Hubballi died by suicide after being told to reduce phone usage.
The police are continuing their inquiry into Dhruva's case.
(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the state’s health helpline 104, Tele-MANAS 14416.)
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
