Student ends life on Metro tracks

KOLKATA: A student of chartered accountancy, in her early twenties, committed suicide on the Metro tracks by jumping in front of a Dum Dum-bound train at Girish Park station on Saturday morning. This is the second such incident in 24 hours. On Friday morning, a 30-year-old man had killed himself at Rabindra Sarobar station.
Sujata Mehta, a first-year CA student, was a resident of Rajarhat's Ramakrishnapally.Like other Saturdays, she had left home for tuitions at a coaching centre near Park Street. Sujata took a train from the Sovabazar station, but got down at Girish Park. At 9.54 am, she jumped in the path of a Dum Dum-bound train. Her body got badly entangled in the undercarriage of the rake, and it took Metro officials 30 minutes to extract it. Services in the up line were disrupted till 10.30 am.
Sujata's father is an employee of a plywood shop on Central Avenue. Police got a clue into her identity from a book in her bag.
There is pressure on Metro Railway to take steps to prevent people from using the system to end their lives on the tracks. In many countries, sliding glass panels are fitted at the edge of platforms that open only after a train stops. The other option is to use guardrails to prevent people from getting near the edge of platforms. "We don't know whether this will be feasible in Kolkata, as the passenger density is very high," said a senior Metro official.