From a mother's grief to a nation's fury: How an exam leak became a political storm

Neelum Chaturvedi holding a picture of her 18-year-old daughter Akanksha, who took her own life in May, soon after authorities cancelled the results of a high-pressure medical exam Akanksha had taken, saying the results had been leaked. Diaa Hadid/NPR hide caption toggle caption Diaa Hadid/NPR NAGPUR, India — Neelum Chaturvedi says her daughter's English handwriting was beautiful. She shows off a note in curly ballpoint. It begins: "Mummy, Pappa." It's the suicide note that her 18-year-old daughter Akanksha wrote before she took her life in May. "I could never find fault in her," her mother says. Chaturvedi hugs a framed picture of her smiling daughter, garlanded with plastic flowers. Now and then, she lifts the framed picture and strokes the flowers away from Akanksha's face, like they're untidy bangs. Akanksha's suicide was one of around a dozen by Indian students that were covered by Indian media, and became one trigger for protests that have shaken the government of the Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi, who has ruled for over a decade. The Indian Express newspaper reported that the deaths came after the country's education ministry cancelled the results of a medic...