A 20-year-old student in India died in a freak accident last Thursday night after falling to his death from the sixth floor of his hostel in Kota, a city in northern India, reported Hindustan Times.

The victim was Ishanshu Bhattacharya, a student from West Bengal who came to Kota last August to prepare for India’s medical entrance exam.

In closed-circuit television footage that was widely circulated on social media, Mr Bhattacharya was seen chatting with three friends on the balcony before the trio entered the room with their shoes.

He walked back to the edge of the balcony to put on his slippers, and leaned against the safety mesh while doing so.

But the mesh gave way and Mr Bhattacharya fell through the opening after losing his balance.

“He fell from the sixth floor of the building and died on the spot,” police officer Amar Singh was quoted as saying in Hindustan Times, adding that the aluminium mesh could not support the victim’s weight and broke.

Mr Bhattacharya’s body was taken to the mortuary for a post-mortem, which will be conducted after his family members arrive, the police officer said.

Some netizens questioned if the hostel should be held accountable for the accident.

“Unbelievable. How did the hostel management think that aluminium mesh would be good enough?” asked netizen Nrisingadeva Manu on Twitter.

Another netizen Kartheek wrote: “I can’t imagine the pain of their parents and loved ones. Hostel should be seized for poor management.”

On Jan 29, a 17-year-old Indian student who was preparing for an engineering entrance exam in Kota also sustained critical injuries after falling from the balcony on the first floor of his hostel, according to NDTV.

He suffered multiple fractures and one of his lungs was punctured, his doctor said.