By IANS
Bangalore : Fear of separation if one of them got married prompted four teenaged girls to commit suicide, with three of them losing their lives and the fourth struggling to be alive in a hospital here.
Ammu, Jayanti and Divya died late Saturday after swallowing tranquillisers and insecticide while their friend Hamasaveni is under intensive care, hospital sources said. All of them came from working class families.
The four, all aged 15, were Class 10 students of the Nagaraj Memorial High School in west Bangalore.
A shaken Hamasaveni told reporters Sunday that fearing separation, they decided to die following speculation that one of them was to be married off.
The four began collecting sleeping pills and insecticide since Friday and on Saturday wrote a joint suicide note.
In the note, the girls did not mention any reason for their act but said neither their teachers nor parents should be held responsible for their death.
They also wanted their eyes to be donated and that they should be buried or cremated at the same spot.
Distraught parents of the four girls were inconsolable as they came to know of the extreme step by their children who were found throwing up on the roadside Saturday evening and rushed to the government Victoria hospital by passers by.
Hamsaveni responded to emergency treatment and has been shifted to a private hospital near her school.
Teachers at the school told reporters that the four girls were close friends. The girls were studious and would have passed the final matriculation examination with distinction, the teachers said.