Tamil Nadu: In a shocking incident, a class 12 student of a private higher secondary school committed suicide. The incident took place at Chinna Salem near Kallakurichi in Tamil Nadu on July 12 night. The deceased left behind a note alleging that she was being tortured by two teachers, police said. On July 13 morning, the watchman of the hostel building allegedly found the girl’s body on the ground and alerted the school management. The local police were informed, and the girl was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was declared dead, The Indian Express reported. In a suicide note, the girl allegedly named two teachers, stating that they tortured her and a couple of other students by forcing them to study all the time. “The two teachers were brought to the police station for an inquiry. They told us that they just casually asked her to concentrate more and study hard as she was very playful,” said Kallakurichi SP S Selvakumar. According to the police, after the school management informed the girl’s parents, they reached the Kallakurichi Government Hospital with their relatives. Over 50 family members staged a protest at the Kallakurichi-Salem highway seeking justice for her death, accusing the school management of pushing her to take the extreme step, the police asserted.
“We are carrying out the investigation. The suicide note says the girl was scolded by these teachers, and the other teachers also know about the incident. The body was sent for postmortem,” SP Selvakumar said. A case was registered under Section 174 (unnatural death) of CRPC. A private residential school in Kallakurichi district in north Tamil Nadu was vandalized and at least 12 school buses, three tractors, and a police bus were torched as a protest over a class XII girl’s death on the campus turned violent on Sunday morning. Over 50 policemen including a DIG rank officer were injured in the violence and 70 persons were arrested by evening. While Chief Minister M K Stalin appealed for calm assuring action against those responsible for the girl’s death, DGP Sylendra Babu transferred the probe in the case to the Crime Branch CID and said the school chairman, secretary, and principal were arrested for failing to ensure safety measures in the hostel. The protest had been brewing in the district since Wednesday when the body of the girl with injuries was found in the hostel block by the watchman. The police had suspected the girl jumped off from her room on the third floor and said a note was found in which she accused two of her teachers of humiliating her for not concentrating on academics. However, the girl’s mother raised suspicion over the theory and alleged foul play. While the protests over the past four days were peaceful, on Sunday, crowds of protestors numbering around a thousand, headed towards the campus of the ECR International School, affiliated to the CBSE, catching the police off-guard. They broke through the police cordon and pelted stones at them before vandalizing the campus. Meanwhile, the district Collector issued a statement, asking the public to maintain peace and imposed Section 144 in Kallakurichi and Chinnasalem. Apart from hurling stones at the building and damaging furniture, they rammed tractors on the parked school buses and set them ablaze. They also made a bonfire of benches and desks in some of the classrooms. The protestors had alleged that the girl was assaulted. The post-mortem report said, “All injuries are antemortem and fresh in nature. However, the final opinion has been reserved pending a report of chemical analysis of viscera.” The entire campus and its surroundings turned into a battle zone and eventually the police had to open fire in the air twice to quell the violence and disperse the mob. Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami charged that the violence was caused by Chief Minister M K Stalin’s inaction and intelligence failure. “Trouble was brewing for the past few days. No one from the Government side went to meet the girl’s family. Had they taken appropriate action at the appropriate time things would not have come to this,” he said. The Madras High Court will on Monday hear a petition filed by the girl’s father in connection with her death. Meanwhile, the girl’s mother alleged her daughter was “murdered” and the school management was not responsive to her pleas for justice.
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