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Dubai

An 18-year old girl from Sonarpur, West Bengal, commited suicide while livestreaming it on social media for her boyfriend.

Indian newspaper @IndiaToday tweeted: “A Class 12 student, 18-year-old Mousumi Mistry hanged herself from a ceiling fan in her home in West Bengal’s Sonarpur while her phone was streaming it on Facebook Live.”

According to the report, police have arrested an 18-year-old boy for watching his girlfriend’s suicide online.

Social media users shared condolence messages.

Facebook user Avijit Sardar wrote: “Mousumi Mitry, this girl passed away yesterday after taking the wrong decision. I pray for your soul.”

Twitter user @ZMaskedMaverick posted: “Today’s kids really need some counselling.” And @vkvalpadi added: “Very sad. RIP.”

India Today reported: “Police believe the boy, operating from a fake Facebook account named as ‘Aryan’, was watching the Live and only exited it when she tied her dupatta around her neck. The boy is said to have even commented on her Live. After investigation, police identified the boy as Suman Das.”

News reports from Bengali media say that he’s been arrested on the charges of abetting suicide. He was remanded to a three-day police custody after being produced at Baruipur court.

Suicide prevention has become a significant topic of discussion in the past few weeks on social media, especially after the death of two Western celebrities - Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain

Twitter user @heartsoflightcc posted: “Our youth today are being bombarded with unhealthy messages. With the increase in suicide rates, we have to start early helping children to develop healthy coping skills and nurturing their mental health.”

In 2015, Facebook rolled out a new system to try and identify and help users having suicidal thoughts. It allows concerned friends to report content for review. After reviewing a report and confirming that it may indicate suicidal feelings in a user, Facebook will send that user notifications stating that a friend has attempted to help and offering access to suicide prevention resources.

In 2017, Facebook also announced that they will be testing their new “proactive detection” artificial intelligence technology. This will scan all posts for patterns of suicidal thoughts, and when necessary send mental health resources to the user at risk or their friends, or contact local first-responders. By using Artificial Intelligence to flag worrisome posts to human moderators instead of waiting for user reports, Facebook can decrease how long it takes to send help.