13-year-old ‘dies by suicide’ after mother asks him to stop playing games on phone

A 13-year-old boy allegedly ended his life after his mother reprimanded him for using phone when dinner had been served, in Surat’s Rander town on Monday evening, police said. The boy was reportedly playing a game on his phone when he was reprimanded, after which he and his elder sister sat down to eat even as their mother stepped out of the house to meet her neighbours in the apartment building, the police added.

“When she returned 20 minutes later, the boy was found hanging with her dupatta from the common staircase railing”, police said. Rander police inspector T B Pandya said, “The woman scolded her son to have dinner when he was busy playing games on the mobile phone.

It could be that the boy felt hurt by that.” The boy was taken to a nearby doctor's clinic, where he was declared dead, said police. The body was sent to the New Civil Hospital for post-mortem. The siblings’ maternal uncle said, “On Monday evening, my sister scolded both her children.

The boy was in Class 7.” In a similar incident last month, a 13-year-old boy allegedly died by suicide in Surat after his parents asked him to keep the phone aside and complete his homework. Child psychiatrist Dr. Mukul Choksi advised parents to regulate what their children watch and what games they played on their phones.