A 15-year-old girl committed suicide by hanging in the Kupura area of Balasore district after her mother intervened to stop her from watching television on Sunday. The victim, identified as Dharitri Maharana, was a Class IX student at a local Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya.

Reports indicate that she was watching TV in the afternoon without having bathed or completed her daily routine when her mother objected. Distressed by the reprimand, she locked herself in the bathroom and allegedly hanged herself with a towel.

When she did not respond for an extended period, family members forced the door open and rushed her to Simulia hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The Simulia police have seized the body and sent it for a post-mortem examination. An unnatural death case has been registered, and an investigation is ongoing.