Hyderabad: Students in Telangana have been protesting against JNTU’s decision to conduct offline examinations in the midst of pandemic. Meanwhile, social media users are sharing pictures of a girl, and an alleged suicide note claiming it to be of Sunitha, a student from Telangana, who committed suicide over non-postponement of Bachelor of Technology and other degree exams. The pictures went viral on Twitter with the keyword ‘RIP Sunitha’, and social media users blamed the Telangana government for the alleged suicide.
A Twitter user @NehaCho78701538 shared the viral images and said, ‘#ktrtrs #sabithareddy #jntuhupdates
Telangana government is responsible for her death. RIP Sunitha’. The tweet was retweeted over 760 times. Click here to view the tweet. Find more claims here, here, and here
Source: Twitter/Screenshot
The post is also viral across YouTube. Find them here, and here
FactO Check:
A reverse image search of the viral image has directed us to a news report published by Telangana Today on 25th January 2021. The article “Daughters of Telanganascript success stories”, talks about the success stories of Telangana girls in various fields. According to the article, the girl in the viral image is Sankeerthana, a student of Telangana Welfare Residential Educational Institution. Sankeerthana, who comes from an economically backward family, wants to study abroad and become a Chartered Accountant.
Screenshot: TelanganaToday
India Today has reached out to Sankeerthana, who is now pursuing B.Com (Hons) at Delhi University. Refuting the viral claims, she said, “I’m currently doing my first year in B.Com (Hons) from Delhi University. I’m not a B.Tech student as claimed in that post. Also, the death note shared along with my picture is not written by me. Due to the Covid-19 situation, there is no certainty when I can leave for Australia. So, I decided to join Delhi University.”
Conclusion: The girl in the viral is Sankeerthana, a B.Com student from Delhi University. She is very much alive. There is no report of a girl committing suicide over non-postponement of exams in Telangana as of now. The viral claim is found to be fake.