Kashmiri student dies in Kota, Pressure of competitive exams again under scanner

May 28, 2025 by News Desk

Police in Rajasthan’s Kota city have registered a case of abetment to suicide after the death of an 18-year-old student from Kashmir, who was preparing for the NEET medical entrance exam.

The student, Zeeshan Jahan, was found hanging in her rented accommodation in Mahaveer Nagar on Sunday evening.

A resident of Anantnag in south Kashmir, she had returned to Kota last month for self-study and was not enrolled in any coaching institute at the time.

Her family, who reached the city on Tuesday, told police that she had been under considerable mental stress and was undergoing treatment for depression.

According to investigating officials, Jahan was speaking with her relative Burhan moments before the incident.

The relative sensed something was wrong and immediately alerted a student living in the same building. She rushed to Jahan’s room, but the door was bolted from inside.

With help from other residents, the door was broken open and Jahan was rushed to the hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead.

Police noted that the ceiling fan lacked the spring-loaded anti-hanging device which had been made mandatory by local authorities last year after a series of student suicides.

A case under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been registered, and police say all possible angles, including personal distress, are being investigated.

Kota, known across India as the country’s coaching capital, attracts over two lakh students each year, most of whom come to prepare for highly competitive entrance examinations like NEET and JEE.

However, only a small percentage of these aspirants manage to qualify. Less than 2 percent secure seats in government medical colleges, which remain the most sought after.

The odds are even narrower for engineering aspirants. 10 percent of those who appear for JEE Main qualify for the next stage, only about 1 to 2 percent make it to India’s elite IITs through JEE Advanced.

Similar or worse trends are observed in other competitive exams like UPSC civil services and CLAT for law schools, where the selection rates fall below 1 percent.

Despite these daunting statistics, tens of thousands of students from across the country continue to arrive in Kota every year, drawn by aggressive marketing from coaching institutes, social pressure, and dreams of transforming their futures.

The intense academic environment, long hours of study, isolation from family, and extremely high expectations often take a serious toll on students’ mental health. Many suffer in silence under the weight of this pressure, and tragically, some do not survive it.

The death of Zeeshan Jahan is the 15th reported student suicide in Kota this year and the second in the month of May alone. The crisis of mental health among students in Kota has triggered nationwide concern and judicial intervention.

Just last week, the Supreme Court of India questioned the Rajasthan government’s handling of the issue after a NEET aspirant from Madhya Pradesh died by suicide on the eve of the NEET-UG exam. The apex court sharply asked the state, “What are you doing as a state?” highlighting the urgency of immediate action.

In recent years, some hostels and local authorities have attempted to introduce safety mechanisms and mental health support, but enforcement remains patchy, and meaningful systemic reforms are still lacking.

The promise of success in Kota has, for many, turned into a cycle of anxiety, fear, and in too many cases, tragedy. Jahan’s body was handed over to her family after a post-mortem was completed, and investigations into her death are ongoing.