Kota:

A delivery agent of a quick commerce platform has been arrested for allegedly delivering cigarettes to underaged coaching students in Kota’s Landmark City area, police said on Sunday.

Satyaprakash Koli (48) was nabbed while he was supplying cigarettes to coaching students on Saturday evening, SP Kota city Amrita Duhan said.

The arrest was made during a crackdown against sale and supply of cigarettes by quick commerce platforms to underaged coaching students, the police said.

The accused, who works for Blinkit, has been booked under section 77 of Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act and under section 9/11 of Rajasthan Prohibition of Smoking and Non-smoker’s Health Protection Act, the SP said.

The city police had already written to representatives of Blinkit company at its office in Landmark City asking not to sell and supply cigarettes to minor students, but despite the instruction, the company was found to be selling them to the coaching students, she said.

Investigation is underway to find out other personnel of the company involved in sale and supply of prohibited material to the minors, she added.

The police will also file a chargesheet against the company, Kunhadi Circle Inspector Arvind Bhardwaj said.

Supplying smoking material and tobacco to minors is a serious offence and police, during investigation, will also take into account the company’s distribution network of prohibited items in other cities, he said Stock and supply registers, recovered from the company’s store, were seized for examination, he said.

The accused was produced before court on Sunday and sent to jail, the officer said.

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The police are investigating the case.

Kota:

The Kota district administration has claimed that there has been a 50 per cent decline in the number of suicides by students this year as compared to 2023 in this coaching hub of Rajasthan known for preparing students for IIT-JEE entrance tests.

However, no specific breakdown of the numbers has been provided by the officials.

“In comparison to last year, the suicide rate among coaching students has decreased by 50 per cent this year, which is a significant figure in terms of the efforts yielding results. We expect this trend to continue in the future,” Kota Collector Ravindra Goswami told PTI in a brief interview.

Kota witnessed 17 cases of suicides by coaching students in 2024, compared to 26 such cases in 2023, as per reports.

According to Goswami, the decline in suicide cases can be attributed to strict compliance with guidelines for coaching institutes and hostels under the vigilance of the district administration.

Other measures, such as gate-keeper training for hostel wardens based on WHO norms and the implementation of SOS Help services, have also contributed to the reduction in suicide cases.

Regular interactive sessions with coaching students through events like ‘Dinner with Collector’ and ‘Samwad,’ as well as the deployment of the Kalika Squad for women’s safety and the safety of girl aspirants, have played a role in this change, Goswami added.

The district collector said he interacted with over 25,000 coaching students this year through events like ‘Dinner with Collector’ and ‘Samwad,’ where he addressed their concerns.

However, industry stakeholders have pointed out that business has slowed down for coaching centres and hostels in Kota following negative publicity over student suicides, new guidelines regulating coaching centres, and the expansion of coaching brands to other cities.

The number of students in Kota has fallen to 85,000 to 1 lakh this year, down from the usual 2-2.5 lakh, leading to a reduction in annual revenues — from Rs 6,500-7,000 crore to Rs 3,500 crore, they said.

Goswami also mentioned the launch of a programme called ‘Kota Cares’, which reaffirms the commitment to the well-being and safety of coaching students.

The three-day Kota Mahotsav, which concluded on Wednesday, aimed at offering entertainment while showcasing Kota as a tourist city with a rich cultural heritage, he said.

Goswami emphasised that the ‘Kota Cares’ programme highlights that the city has offered coaching to over one crore students from across the country, playing a significant role in their lives, regardless of the careers they pursue.

The programme also involves inviting Kota alumni — former students who have studied in the city — to interact with the current aspirants and reassure them that the city now offers better facilities and an improved environment, he said.

Meanwhile, Goswami has written to the parents of coaching students, extending his New Year greetings and reaffirming Kota’s commitment to the overall development and safety of their children.

“I assure you that Kota is fully committed to the overall development and safety of students,” he said.

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Kota, Rajasthan:

A 16-year-old boy from Bihar preparing for IIT-JEE was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his hostel room in the Vigyan Nagar police station area of Kota city on Friday, officials said.

The incident occurred despite the fan in hostel room being equipped with anti-hanging device meant to prevent suicide. Police suspected it to be a case of suicide, however, no suicide note was recovered from the room and the reason behind the extreme step by the minor is yet to be ascertained.

A 16-year-old boy studying in class 11th and hailing from the Vaishali district in Bihar had been preparing for IIT-JEE in a coaching institute since April this year in Kota, Circle Inspector at the Vigyan Nagar police station Mukesh Meena said.

The boy was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his hostel room on Friday, he added.

It is the 17th case of suicide by coaching students in Kota this year since January. The city witnessed 26 cases of suicide by coaching students in 2023.

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Jaipur:

Kota, the coaching capital of the country which has been making headlines for student suicides, now has another big problem to contend with – students getting hooked to drugs.

Experts say the same academic pressure and loneliness – with most engineering and medical aspirants, only in their late teens, being away from their families for the first time – that is driving students to suicide is also leading them to the path of addiction.

Officials said a recent drive by the police has led to the arrest of over 100 drug peddlers and their bosses, blowing the lid off what appears to be a much larger network.

Kota Superintendent of Police (SP) Amrita Duhan said a total of 124 people were arrested for allegedly luring students and other young people in the city to drugs and delivering the contraband to them.

“We made the arrests after identifying those who smuggle drugs or deliver contraband to students studying at various coaching centres. The arrests were made as part of a crackdown on the drug mafia under ‘Operation Vajra Prahar’,” she said.

Police said smack (heroin), charas and ganja (marijuana) are the drugs that are in the widest circulation.

‘High Expectations’

Lakhs of aspirants move to Kota annually to prepare for competitive exams such as the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) for admission to engineering colleges and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for medical courses.

However, some students find the grind stressful amid homesickness, packed schedules, cut-throat competition and a constant pressure from parents and faculty to perform better.

“Parents always tend to have expectations. This tends to build a lot of pressure on us. They always want to know about our performance and marks. I feel afraid, thinking what will happen if I do not meet their expectations,” Rahul (name changed), one of the students who fell prey to substance abuse, said.

Gautam (name changed), another student, said: “My friends told me to give it (drugs) a try. I took it, but snorted it and did not inject.”

Last year, Kota recorded an alarming 27 student suicides – its highest ever – up from 15 the previous year. This led to both the state and Union governments announcing a slew of measures, including restricting the admission of children below 16 years of age to coaching centres in the city.

With 14 student suicides being recorded this year so far, police are also investigating if any of the students had fallen prey to substance abuse.

(With inputs from Sushant Pareek in Kota, and Shakir Ali and Somu Anand in Jaipur)

Kota:

A teacher in a government senior secondary school in a village here has been arrested for allegedly trying to harass a Class 12 girl sexually, police said on Friday.

The accused was on Friday produced before a POCSO court that ordered to send him to under judicial custody, they said.

The government school in Julmi village under the Suket police station limits in Kota district, where the incident occurred, was earlier selected under the special category of ‘Prime Minister Shree School’.

Meanwhile, state Education Minister Madan Dilawar took note of the incident and directed to issue suspension orders to the teacher. He also ordered suspension of the school principal for failing to take action in the matter in time.

The accused Ved Prakash Bairwa (32), was arrested in the case on Thursday after the 17-year-old female student lodged a complaint against the lecturer earlier in the day, SHO at Suket police station Raghuveer Singh said on Friday.

The minor alleged that the accused tried to force her for physical relations and forcibly held her hand on a few occasions, the SHO said, adding that the student had reported the matter to her class teacher and the principal.

When the girl’s ordeal was not addressed by the school, she told her parents, who then reached the school on Thursday to discuss the matter but the principal and the accused teacher allegedly blasted on them and made them leave.

As the news about the incident spread, hundreds of angry villagers reached the school to protest, where the staff, noticing the mob, bolted themselves inside a room.

The angry villagers created a commotion on the school premises for around two-and-a-half hours, while the girl student reportedly waited with a garland of shoes outside.

On report about the commotion, the local police team rushed to the school and on noticing the mob in rage, called in additional force from two other police stations. The accused lecturer was then taken to the police station. Bairwa was arrested on Friday after being booked under section 74 (assault or use of criminal force on woman with intent to outage her modesty) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and sections 11 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, SHO Singh said.

The police on Friday produced the accused before a POCSO court that ordered to send him to judicial custody.

Bikaner director secondary education on Friday issued separate orders to suspend the accused teacher Bairwa and the principal Diwan Singh Rawat with immediate effect, Kota District education Officer (DEO) Krishan Kumar Sharma said.

In the departmental inquiry, the school principal was found guilty of negligence by taking no action despite the matter having been reported to him, Sharma added.

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Kota (Rajasthan):

Police have detained the principal of a government school in Rajasthan’s Bundi district for allegedly passing lewd comments on a girl, officials said on Tuesday.

The villagers held the principal captive in a room on the school premises and thrashed him, police said.

The accused was identified as Sheoji Lal Meena, principal of a government senior secondary school, they said.

According to police, the incident occurred on Monday during a sports event at the school. The girl, a student in class 12th, accused Meena of misbehaving with her and repeatedly passing lewd comments.

Following the girl’s accusations, the locals gathered around the premises and held Meena captive in a room in the school. They thrashed him until the police intervened and detained him, SHO at Nainwanpolice station, Mahendra Yadav said.

Based on the complaint, an FIR was lodged under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Further investigation is underway, Mr Yadav added.

Meanwhile, the District Education Officer, Bundi, Rajendra Vyas said that a departmental inquiry has also been initiated into the matter.

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Kota:

Nearly a week after a NEET aspirant left his PG room here with Rs 8,000 in his pocket, another 19-year-old preparing for the medical entrance exam in Kota has gone missing.

Bihar native Aman Kumar Singh, who had been preparing for the entrance exam in the coaching hub for the last two years, left his paying guest room in Swarn Vihar colony on the intervening night of May 11 and 12, police said.

Singh left a note behind in which he said that he couldn’t do well in the NEET exam and wouldn’t be able to crack it, they said.

In his note, he asked to look for him near the Kota Barrage, located over the Chambal River. However, police declined the possibility of the boy committing suicide as no trace of him was found near the barrage, according to police.

Based on CCTV footage, it was found that Singh got onto a bike with another boy and reached Kota Railway Station from where he boarded a train, DSP Rajesh Soni said.

It is suspected that the student left the note in his room to misguide the police and his parents, he said, adding that Singh will be traced soon.

Earlier this month, Singh’s younger brother also came to Kota to prepare for NEET and started living with him, Kunhari Circle inspector Arvind Bhardwaj said.

His brother told police that around 1 am on the intervening night of May 11 and 12, Singh managed to go out of the PG. When he woke up around an hour later, he found his brother missing, but saw a note and his mobile lying on the bed, the officer said.

In the note, the student said that he was stressed as he couldn’t do well in the NEET exam and won’t be able to qualify, Bhardwaj said.

The police have lodged a report in the matter and efforts are underway to trace the student, the DSP said, adding that Singh’s parents, natives of Munger district in Bihar, also reached Kota on Sunday.

On May 6, Rajasthan native Rajendra Prasad Meena (19) went missing from his PG room here. He sent a text message to his parents saying that he did not want to study any further and was leaving home for five years.  Meena wrote that he had Rs 8,000 with him and would contact his family or other relatives if need be.

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Kota:

Kota District Collector Dr Ravinder Goswami wrote to the NEET and JEE aspirants and their parents on Tuesday, citing his own example of failing the Pre-Medical Test several years ago. His letters came in the wake of the rising cases of suicides, with two incidents taking place within three days.

Mr Goswami, an MBBS doctor before he became an IAS officer, said a failure is an opportunity to improve and turn it into success.

He urged the parents to give a chance to their wards to improve their mistakes and not associate happiness of the children with the marks they obtain in exams.

Quoting a motivating couplet from Urdu poet Sahir Ludhianvi, Mr Goswami began his address to the students with “Dear children” and noted that failures give one the opportunity to surmount the mistakes committed in life and turn the failures into success.

The Collector noted that the exam is only a phase in life and not the ultimate goal and it cannot determine the direction of one’s life.

“I am an example of this. I have also failed in PMT,” he wrote. “We can only do hard work and it is upto God to bestow us with fruits. So, if he makes us succeed, it is okay. But if he makes us fail, it means he is charting another path for us… You are great children of great India and only one exam cannot be taken as the ultimate test to achieve your goal,” Mr Goswami wrote.

He concluded his letter to the students by saying if one walks, she or he tends to fall but it is meaningful only when one gets up after falling and moves ahead towards the goal.

In a separate letter to the parents, the DM appreciated their commitment towards their wards in providing them all the facilities. He recognised that their happiness lies in the happiness of their children but noted that the problem arises when the happiness of children is associated with the marks they obtain in the exams.

“Does one become successful only by passing an exam? No,” the DM wrote. Their wards, he told parents, can be interested in some other field.

Mr Goswami urged the parents to give their wards a chance to improve themselves as his own parents did to him when he returned home from Kota, where he had stayed for the preparation of PMT but failed once.

The Collector appealed to the parents to speak to their wards regularly, listen to them and make them believe that they are the most needed ones and most precious for them.

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Kota:

A 10-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her father in Rajasthan’s Baran district, police said on Friday.

SHO Rajendra Kumar Meena said the 33-year-old accused, a daily wage labourer, was arrested on Thursday and sent to judicial custody on Friday.

The incident took place on Tuesday when the man allegedly returned home in a drunken state in the afternoon and raped his daughter, a Class 5 student, while her mother was away for work, Meena said.

When the victim’s mother returned in the evening, she narrated the ordeal to her, the SHO said.

The woman approached the police with her daughter on Wednesday and filed a complaint against her husband, the officer said.

Based on the victim’s statement and the medical examination, the police have lodged a case against the accused under the Indian Penal Code Section 376 (rape) and relevant sections of the POCSO Act, he said.

Both parents of the girl are daily wage labourers and the father is a habitual drinker, he added.

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