A 15-year-old girl allegedly died by suicide after being scolded by her mother for spending too much time on her mobile phone in Maharashtra's Thane district.
The girl, a resident of Ambernath area, had consumed a rat poison on September 26, police said on Monday. She was rushed to a nearby hospital and later shifted to a hospital in Mumbai where she died on October 2. The police registered a case of accidental death based on the medical report.
In a similar incident, a 16-year-old boy who was addicted to playing video games died by suicide after his father took away his smartphone last year. He had a heated argument with his father after he was told to stop playing games on his smartphone and focus on his studies. Police officers said his father then took away his cell phone as he was playing games constantly and asked him to go to bed.
In another incident, three boys allegedly stabbed their 16-year-old friend to death in Delhi after the latter refused to give them a "treat" for getting a new smartphone. The victim and the three boys were students of Class 9. "The group demanded a party or a treat to celebrate the purchase but Sachin refused. An argument ensued, leading to the stabbing," a police official said.
In June, a 16-year-old girl allegedly died by suicide after her father objected to her downloading the social media app Snapchat on her phone in Thane. The girl then allegedly hanged herself from the ceiling of a bedroom, with the family finding her dead the next day. The police were alerted and her body was taken for postmortem. A case of accidental death has been registered in the matter.