Attempting to imitate scene from movie, 11-yr-old boy hangs self

An 11-year-old boy died while trying to imitate a scene from a film where a character was seen committing suicide. The incident took place at Maynaguri in Jalpaiguri on Sunday night when the boy’s family members had gone to a neighbour’s house.

Police said that preliminary investigation revealed that the victim, Chanchal Sarkar, a student of Boulabari Neelkanta Pal High School, had watched a movie on the television a few days ago. He had even enquired his family members as to why the person was hanging from the ceiling of a room after watching a particular scene of the movie.

His family members thought that it would not be right to explain him that why people commit suicide and hence ignored the boy’s question. They never imagined that he would try to imitate the act in reality.

The victim’s father Chandmohan Sarkar had gone out of station on Saturday for his work and on Sunday night, Chanchal was staying alone in the house when the rest of the family had gone to a neighbour’s house for a function. After returning they found the boy hanging from the ceiling of a room. They brought him down and took him to Mayanaguri Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Police came to know from his family members that they had asked him to go with them to the neighbour’s house. When he was asked to accompany them, Chanchal refused saying that he would like to continue watching television. The family’s decision to leave him behind, unfortunately, turned fatal.

Police believe that no foul play was involved in Chanchal’s death. They also came to know that he had come to know about the concept of suicide when a person had claimed his life around a year and a half ago in the area.

A pall of gloom descended in the locality with Chanchal’s death. He was known in the community as a boy good at football and other extra-curricular activities.