PURNEA, Dec. 18 -- A 19-year-old girl student pursuing a first-semester B Tech (Computer Science) course at Government Engineering College allegedly died by suicide in a private hostel in Purnea on Tuesday, police said. The deceased, a native of Darbhanga district, was found hanging in her paying guest (PG) hostel room at Shastri Nagar locality under Maranga police station limits. Speaking to HT over the phone, Maranga police station Station House Officer (SHO) Rupak Ranjan Singh said police recovered a one-line suicide note in which the student reportedly wrote that she did not want to live. "A case of unnatural death has been registered and further investigation is underway," he said. The SHO added that police were probing the case from multiple angles, including possible academic pressure or personal issues. "The family did not initially lodge any complaint. Her parents had spoken to her on Monday night, and on Tuesday her body was found hanging in her room," he said. However, the girl's father later lodged an FIR at Gautam Buddh Nagar police station in Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh), alleging harassment by the college principal. "After the post-mortem examination, the body was handed over to the family," the SHO said, stressing the need for continuous counselling programmes in schools and colleges to support students' mental health. Several students from Bihar have died by suicide in recent years due to various reasons, including academic pressure, personal issues and alleged harassment, raising serious concerns. In August this year, a 24-year-old final-year BTech (Computer Science) student of Sharda University, Greater Noida, and a native of Purnea, allegedly died by suicide in a private hostel. Police had cited academic pressure as a factor. In May 2024, a final-year BTech student from Purnea was found dead in his hostel room at Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur. A suicide note recovered from the room attributed personal reasons and academic stress. In November 2024, a 20-year-old woman student of a government Industrial Training Institute (ITI) for women allegedly died by hanging in the hostel in Bihar's Supaul district. "Students today are becoming extremely sensitive, partly due to excessive exposure to social media. There is an urgent need to strengthen social cohesion and support systems to curb this growing menace," said Prof Lalit Kumar Sah, a psychology teacher at Purnea University....