Chandigarh: The victim, Pooranpreet Kaur, set herself on fire at her house in Sarhali village near Amritsar in Punjab, police said on Sunday. She was reportedly depressed as her visa to go abroad got rejected. The name of the country for which Kaur had applied has not been revealed. The girl’s mother Rajwinder Kaur has filed a complaint with the police. 

Rajwinder Kaur told police her daughter had completed her studies till senior secondary and applied for a visa to go abroad on the basis of her IELTS score but her file was rejected a few days ago. Some neighbours heard her cries after she set herself on fire and rushed her to a hospital. However, doctors declared her dead. Police officials said that it was not known immediately which country had rejected her visa application.

Youth from Punjab apply for immigration to other countries in large number. A recent study by the Centre for Research on Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) in Chandigarh underlined that 93 percent emigrants from Punjab are non-poor and “largely belong to households in the top two wealth quintiles (approximately 75 percent)”. The study also pointed out that 59 percent of the international migrants from Punjab are low in educational attainment.