After constant homophobic bullying, a 20-year-old homosexual boy in Chennai killed himself stating that he was not accepted as the way he is and he was constantly taunted for his way of walking and talking.
Avinshu Patel aka Avi's body was found on Neelankarai beach on the morning of July 3.
Before his death, Avi, who was from Mumbai, poured his heart out in two Facebook posts on July 2. One post was in English and one in Hindi. In the lengthy English post, Avi said that he could not live like this any longer and hoped that his family will be well looked after. He also asked everyone not to blame his employers, Bounce Express Salon and Spa, where he worked as a trainee.
According to a report by The News Minute, before he killed himself, Avi called his friend up in Mumbai to inform him of his impending death.
"Avi called me around 5 pm on July 2. We hadn't spoken for about a month since we had a fight, but he suddenly called me. He was very out of sorts, and he told me he was going to kill himself. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't listen. I then called up his colleagues and friends in Chennai and asked them to track him down," Avi's friend was quoted as saying by TNM.
However, no one could find him and his phone went dead. When his manager tried again the next morning, a police officer picked up and said that Avi's body was found on the beach.
In his suicide note, Avi had said that his employers were nothing but supportive of him and his dreams. As a testament to this, Avi's former manager said that he was the brightest in the batch. He added, "He had been working with us for just three months, but because he was so talented, we were giving him advanced training to become a nail artist. He wasn't facing any problems at work, in fact, he was doing very well. It came as a shock."
Avi's body has been sent back to Mumbai to his family for the funeral rites.
