Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Goa College Student Dies After Viral Littering Video

Goa’s government has ordered a probe to determine whether online harassment, police questioning or the student's access to a licensed family firearm contributed to his death.

Overview

  • A bystander filmed a college student disposing of garbage and posted the clip online, which quickly drew heavy public criticism and social-media trolling.
  • Police examined the video, registered an offence under Goa’s Non-Biodegradable Garbage Control law, summoned the student to the station, questioned him and issued a notice.
  • Hours after that interaction the student was found dead from a gunshot at his Mapusa home late Thursday night and was declared dead at hospital.
  • The family says the online abuse and the police summons pushed him into deep depression and are demanding arrest of the person who filmed and posted the clip.
  • Authorities have opened an unnatural-death/inquest case, the chief minister has ordered a detailed inquiry and investigators are probing how the student accessed the licensed family firearm but have not established a conclusive link between the viral video, police action and the death.