A 19-year-old took his own life over alleged homophobia, according to the virtual suicide note he left behind.
Avinshu Patel, known as Avi to friends, was from Bombay and had been working in Chennai for the last three months. His body was found on the Neelangarai beach on 2 July, according to The New Indian Express. Police has registered a case of unnatural death, said the report.
Avi had spoken to his friend Ishaan Mastry in Mumbai on 2 July, a couple of hours before he ended his life. The same afternoon, Avi had gone to the mall with a friend for lunch. Two hours after that he called Mastry and told him he wanted to take his life.
“I request all of you to not hold anyone responsible for my death”, reads the suicide note. “I may be a boy for everyone, but I walk, talk and feel like a girl, something that is not accepted by Indians.”
The letter ended with another request to not hold anyone accountable for his death.
The suicide comes in the wake of the Supreme Court judgement of September 2018, which decriminalised homosexuality in India. Though legally there is nothing for which a homosexual person can be held accountable, ground realities remain far from that. People of the LGBTQI+ community continue to face discrimination at the hands of cis-gendered people.
If these allegations of homophobia are indeed true, it goes to reveal a case of extreme societal pressure on a young person who did not subscribe to normative sexual roles.
If you are your loved one is feeling suicidal, reach out. Here’s a safe list of numbers curated by The Health Collective.
(With inputs from The New Indian Express.)
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