Bengaluru tragedy: Boy jumps to death from 18th floor in Whitefield, depression to be blamed?

Although a common mental health problem, depression is perhaps the most overlooked by society and even by the person suffering from it. The taboo around depression is such that the person suffering from depression does not even realize that he or she has it. And by the time they do, it is too late.

Depression can hit anyone at any given age or social standing. If one thinks that money can solve everything, even depression, or that the rich do not suffer from depression, they are wrong.

Case in point being the death of class 12 student who fell from the 18th floor of Prestige Shantiniketan apartments in Whitefield, southeast Bengaluru, where his friend stays, in the early hours of Wednesday, September 20.

Polas,a student of The International School Bengaluru and son of Pradeep Chowdhary, a software engineer with a private company in Electronics City, allegedly left a message on a WhatsApp group of his friends, saying, 'Its my final goodbye .... Love you ma' before taking this drastic step, reported the Times of India.

The police did not find any suicide note. "Polas lives in Palm Meadows in the neighbourhood. According to eyewitnesses, the boy left his apartment around 3.30am. The security guard told us Polas drove out in his dad's car," a police officer told TOI.

"We tried our best to take a two-line statement from them. But other family members shouted at us when we visited the parents in the afternoon. We will take the statement by Friday," police added.

The parents did say that the fall must be an accident. However, the police are not convinced. The boy fell around 6am. We don't know what happened between 3.30am and 6am.Why did he go to the terrace at that hour? We're investigating if he was alone on the terrace or his friends were with him,'' the police said.

A spokesperson from TISB said Polas was a good student.

"We're shocked. He was a very friendly child. The school has declared a holiday on Thursday and there will be a memorial service for Polas on Friday. We offer our deepest condolences to the family," the spokesperson said.

With no clues leading the police to believe this is a ‘Blue Whale Game’ related death, many are speculating the suicide to be due to depression.

However, why is it that nobody saw through it? International schools have counselors but even they are helpless if the depressed person does not talk.

Even legendary actors like Marlon Brando and Gregory Peck have lost their children to mental illness.

Depression amongst the youth could be a result of bullying too. The drama series ’13 Reasons Why’ shows us the dark side of adolescence and teenage suicide and the reasons why teenagers are pushed to the brink. Depression must be taken as a serious problem before more lives are lost.

• Bengaluru boy
• jumps to death
• Whitefield
• depression