Guest Column

My sister did not commit suicide, she was murdered

Anamika Arutla committed suicide in Hyderabad on 18 April after the Intermediate results in Telangana declared her failed in Telugu subject. On 1 June, when Anamika’s elder sister Udaya Arutla found Anamika’s result online, she found she had passed the exam. She had scored not 20 marks, but 48 marks.

This is a first-person account by Udaya Arutla on her sister. She is convinced the Government of Telangana has blood on its hands.

By Udaya Arutla

It is 44 days since I lost my Anu. My little sister Anamika Arutla, just a year younger to me. We celebrated her 17th birthday in February. Anamika hanged to death on the evening of 18 April, the day her Intermediate first year results were announced. 

But I don’t think it was a suicide. I call it a murder.

No one in fact, believed Anamika was the younger one between the two of us. Her personality, confidence, tendency to take charge and be a leader, made it seem like she was the eldest among us three sisters. She was brave, she was in fact, in the NCC and her Sir would say he has not seen a more brave girl. Anamika aspired to be the best NCC cadet in school and college and then become an Army officer. She was full of dreams and hope. 

How could she kill herself?

Anamika was a student of St Philomina Girls High school in New Bhoiguda in Secunderabad. She grew up with our grandmother in Hyderabad, so she could go to a better school here than in Sirpur Kagaznagar, some 300 km away, where my parents live. I shifted to Hyderabad as well and am doing second year college at Pragati Mahavidyalaya. 

Anamika scored 64 marks in English, 55 in Economics, 67 in Civics, 75 in Commerce but only 20 marks in Telugu. When I learnt about the marks, I knew there was some mistake because she had secured 8 GPA in Telugu in class X. But Anamika did not wait to find out what that mistake was.

My father is a vegetable merchant and my mother is a housewife. Both of them are understandably heartbroken and unable to deal with the trauma of their cheerful and bright daughter killing herself. I know my sister will not come back. But I want to fight for justice for her and also for my parents. And I want to tell all youngsters, whether you pass or fail, don’t commit suicide. You may go but you will leave those behind in a lot of pain. 

Don’t do it ever.

What is even more traumatic in Anamika’s case is that if the marks she got now had been declared on 18th April, she would have been alive today. She would have happily gone to a NCC camp in Delhi, for which she was selected. She had attended an interview 10 days before she died and we got the result just last week.

Today my uncle checked online and it was a miracle that they admitted publicly that Anamika got 48 marks, not 20 marks. My sister did not fail, she passed. We did not put out those marks. They did. So who is responsible for her death?

How do I feel now? I feel numb. I feel angry. I feel anguished. I feel helpless. I blame the intermediate board and Globarena for my sister’s death. Should the Telangana government not take responsibility for it?
I intend to file a case against the Government of Telangana and the Board of Intermediate Education, naming its secretary A Ashok and Globarena company, the technical partner in particular.

Incidentally, tomorrow Telangana marks five years of its birth. There will be celebrations organised by the government. The new Telangana was supposed give a golden future to its youngsters. 

During the days of the agitation for Telangana, so many students committed suicide demanding statehood and bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. The government promised Bangaru Telangana (Golden Telangana). If students are still killing themselves, how is it Bangaru Telangana. Give me one reason why Anamika should have ended her life. 

A few days ago, one of the Telangana government ministers, Talasani Srinivas Yadav came home. We were told he is coming to console us. Instead he asked us where was the need for Anamika to commit suicide since she is only in first year of Intermediate, that she could have written a supplementary exam. He was blaming us for not stopping her instead of telling us that the government will take care. Then he shocked us by saying such suicides happen all the time. My grandmother asked him if it happens all the time, why doesn’t the government take steps to ensure students do not commit suicide. 

Tomorrow when the government of Telangana will celebrate five years of statehood, we, the parents and relatives of all the 23 students who committed suicide after the Intermediate results will assemble at Mahatma Gandhi statue and sit on a silent protest. 

Will it make a difference, we do not know. 

(As related to Filter Kaapi Bureau)

Editor’s Note : After this first person account was published, the Board of Intermediate Education put out a note saying the 48 marks were “wrongly uploaded”, that it was a “clerical mistake”. Its secretary A Ashok wrote that Anamika had secured an increase of only one mark, increasing her score to 21 from 20. 

This is shocking and absolutely irresponsible. Filter Kaapi wants to ask how many more mistakes the Board will continue to make and play with the lives of students. 

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