NIT Trichy student goes missing; leaves behind letter mentioning mental torture

INDORE: A 21-year-old MCA student has gone missing from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Tamil Nadu's Tiruchirappalli, and her Indore-based family has appealed to the Madhya Pradesh government to trace her. The family has alleged that their daughter, who has been missing for a fortnight, left behind a letter in which she mentions the mental torture and academic pressure she faced after becoming a class representative (CR) at NIT.

Talking to PTI on Tuesday, Nutesh Gupta said his daughter Ojasvi went missing from the NIT hostel on September 15 and could not be traced, and her mobile phone was also switched off. Gupta said he had enrolled his daughter in the MCA course at NIT on August 10, and she had travelled out of her hometown, Indore, for the first time to study.

"Before going missing, my daughter left behind a letter in which she mentions the mental torture and academic pressure she faced after becoming a CR at NIT Trichy," he said. He alleged that Ojasvi was probably harassed by her classmates after she became a CR. "It was my daughter's dream to get admission at NIT. Her dream was also fulfilled. But we had no idea she would disappear from the institute within a month," he said.

Academic pressure at NIT Tiruchirappalli

Gupta said Ojasvi's mother and brother travelled to Tiruchirappalli and made an unsuccessful attempt to find her with the help of the Tamil Nadu police, he said. Gupta said he has also approached the Madhya Pradesh government and the Indore police to trace his daughter. Indore Police Commissioner Rakesh Gupta said he has spoken to police officers in Tiruchirappalli about Ojasvi's disappearance and informed them that Indore cops are ready to help them find her.

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In a purported letter titled "Sad reality of male-dominated world", Ojasvi wrote, "It's really hard for any woman to make men follow her or to accept her leadership, if she is not beautiful." The missing student's elder brother, Palash Gupta, burst into tears at the thought of his sister. "With each passing day, the fear that something untoward has happened is increasing in our minds. But we pray that my sister is safe wherever she is," he said.