A 15-year old girl in Kerala has been battling for life for the past three days after she jumped from the third floor of her school building, allegedly because she was harassed by her teachers.
On Friday afternoon, the Class 10 student of Trinity Lyceum school at Thanagassery in Kollam city jumped off the building, allegedly because she was scolded by one of her teachers for reportedly picking a fight with another student - a classmate of her younger sister. Her sister studies in Class 8 in the same school.
The girl has been admitted to a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, and her condition is serious.
The Kollam West Police has booked two teachers of the school - Sindhu and Crescent - under section 305 of IPC for abetment of suicide of a child.
Speaking to TNM, the girl’s uncle, Prakash, alleged that the girl tried to kill herself because of harassment by the teachers. “It is 100% true. They didn’t even allow her to eat her lunch. From the information we got, she was taken from the dining room, and her food was left open there when it happened. They had even her told her earlier that she won’t be allowed to write the Board exams,” he said.
“When parents send their children to school it is believed that their safety is taken care of. If such are the things happening in the school, where we will send our children? We all are scared,” he added.
The police however say they cannot confirm this sequence of events at this point.
“We have taken the statements of the teachers, but we’re yet to get a clear picture on whether it was harassment. Since it was the weekend, we couldn’t get statements from other teachers and students. The inquiry is progressing and detailed statements will be taken in the coming days,” sub inspector Nizamuddin told TNM.