Indian Student Commits Suicide After Parents Banned Her from Facebook

A 17-year-old girl from India committed suicide after her parents told her she had to stop using Facebook, police said on Friday.

Aishwarya Dahiwal was found hanging in her bedroom on Wednesday after an argument with her parents in Maharashtra state’s Parbhani city.

“On Wednesday night, she had an argument with her parents who told her not to just use Facebook and her mobile all day for chatting,” the officer from Nanal Peth police station said. “They told her to focus on her studies. After the argument, she locked herself in her room and was found hanging later, with a suicide note nearby,” an investigating officer who wished to remain anonymous has said. Police are currently examining the note, which refers to the argument and Facebook.

In the suicide note she wrote shortly after the argument, Aishwarya blamed her parents and the restrictions they put on her Facebook use.

“Is Facebook so bad?” she wrote. “I cannot stay in a home with such restrictions as I can’t live without Facebook.”

Newsweek Pakistan says that, with Internet access spreading rapidly across India, many high school students are ditching their phones in favor of communicating exclusively over Facebook.