Youth, Shoiab Bashir 23, in Kashmir took his life in an apple orchard as his father, a teacher was not paid for 30 months.
The tragic incident, the first of its kind happened on Friday, May 28th where young Shoiab recorded a video before ending his life in the Avil area of Noorabad in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district.
In a viral video, the young man can be heard saying that due to the financial crunch he is taking this extreme step as his family is suffering immense hardships. “I am taking this extreme step only for justice to the teachers who are without salaries for the last 30 months.”
In the last few seconds of the viral video, he is appealing to his parents to keep patient and pray to Allah.
Local residents said that the young man was pursuing his Masters from IGNOU and has been identified as Shoib Bashir, son of Bashir Ahmad Mir resident of Avil Kulgam.
Talking to Rising Kashmir, the father of the deceased youth said he is working as ReT and from the last 2.5 years he along with 70 others are without salaries due to which his son took this extreme step, and said, “he told his mother for the fee which we didn’t have, and this forced my son to take this extreme step.”
His father Bashir Ahmad Mir joined the education department as a teacher in 2005 and was confirmed as a teacher but after a verification process, an adverse report from the police department in 2019 worked against him and they stopped his salary and the family was struggling in the economic doldrums ever since.
Mir told reporters that he was among the 70 teachers who were not being paid their salaries for 30 months, but the authorities denied it and put the number down to 25 teachers.
Soon after the video of the young man went viral on social media, the netizens displayed anger against the government for leaving the teacher in such a position where their kids are taking their lives.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Kulgam Dr. Bilal Mohi-ud-Din talking to Rising Kashmir said, “It is an unfortunate incident that a young and educated person took this extreme setup and we are investigating the matter why he took this step.”
He said the government is providing all assistance to impoverished students, however, he said in this present time it is the duty of every person to take care of their dear ones.
The father said that the boy asked his mother for the fees, and she could not provide it, he took the drastic step but if his brother or even he had been around, they could have arranged to sell some of their lands for his fees and this tragedy could have been averted.
Police have lodged a formal complaint and investigations have started.