Boy Jumps To Death In Rajasthan Village After Being Denied A Smart Phone

In a tragedy perpetuated by heady consumerism, an 18-year-old boy, upset with his daily wager parents' failure to buy him a high-end smartphone, jumped to death into a 70-ft deep ditch in Parana village of Bundi district in Rajasthan today.

The boy, a Class 9 student, left home with his younger brother after a minor spat with his parents after they expressed their inability to buy the costly mobile phone. He reached the peak of a stone quarry and jumped into the deep ditch to the horror of his brother.

The boy took the plunge yelling, "I'm going to die," leaving his distraught and dumbfounded brother to run back home and tell his parents about the incident.

The Dabi police station in-charge Sampat Singh, in whose jurisdiction the incident occurred, told reporters that the body of the boy was handed over to his parents after a post mortem was being conducted. A case, too, was registered in the matter, he said.

Mr Singh said the teenager, a native of Alirajpur district in Madhya Pradesh, had been studying in Class 9 in his village, but had dropped out of school owing to the poverty of his parents. The parents had migrated to Rajasthan to work as labourers in the stone quarry here.

The police officer said the boy committed suicide, hankering for a costlier mobile phone. Surprisingly his parents had already bought him a mobile set worth Rs. 8,000 a few months ago. But, he was not satisfied with it and started nagging for yet another costlier set.