Two teachers and the principal of Delhi’s Ahlcon Public School were booked for sexual harassment, abetment to suicide, and criminal intimidation after a class nine girl committed suicide a her residence in sector Noida Sector 52 late night on Tuesday. Her family alleged that sexual harassment had led to their daughter’s suicide.
Gautam Budh Nagar police registered an FIR under Sections 306 (abetment to suicide), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and POCSO Act during the early hours of Wednesday against the trio.
It was late on Tuesday night when the 15-year-old girl, a student of the school in East Delhi’s Mayur Vihar, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her house.
Police said, the matter came to fore when the girl’s parents, who were out for some work when the girl ended her life, returned home but their daughter did not respond to ringing of doorbell.
They had to forcibly open the door of her room and found her hanging. The family rushed her to Kailash Hospital in Noida, where she was declared dead on arrival, police said.
Family members of the deceased consequently lodged a complaint against the school and two teachers claiming that their ward had gone into depression after being subjected to sexual harassment by the teachers and poor marks she obtained in her recently concluded final examinations.
Meanwhile, circle officer Rajeev Kumar Singh said police had collected CCTV footage from the school. He mentioned that classrooms were not covered by cameras installed in the school. Notices had been served to the two teachers and the principal, he stated.
When contacted, school authorities denied allegations levelled by the family.
Principal Dharmendra Goyal described the incident as “unfortunate”.
He said the school had been following promotion policy of the CBSE. He elaborated that the deceased had not failed but had to take an examination again. He claimed that he would cooperate in the investigation.
The principal, however, denied outright any possibility of sexual harassment against the child by school teachers.
“The student was given marks based on her answer sheet. The allegation of harassment is not true. The student’s family had not complained to the management about the issue,” Goyal stated.
Primary reports from the post-mortem of the girl ascertained death by hanging on Wednesday, police said, after which her body was handed over to the family members.
In their complaint, the family said three months ago, the girl had complained that faculty of social studies, Rajiv Sehgal touches her inappropriately and threatened to flunk her if she resisted or raised alarm.
After this, the girl’s father even went to the school and met the principal to bring the matter to light, however, he said, no action was taken against the teacher. The family has also said that she was in depression as her Science teacher Neeraj Anand deliberately used to give her low marks.
After primary probe on Tuesday evening, police said that the girl had spoken to her father around 4:15 pm but she started crying while talking.
The family has said that she was under depression and had told her father that she tries to study hard but the two teachers deliberately flunk her, said Akhilesh Tripathi, SHO Sector 24 police station.
Meanwhile, Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday ordered a departmental inquiry into the suicide.
Sisodia said the student committed suicide on Tuesday allegedly due to academic pressure. He said the FIR quoted the girl’s parents as alleging that the student was molested.
Sisodia, also the Deputy Chief Minister, said the student got her report card on 16 March and she had compartment in science and social science and she did not go to school after that.
Sisodia told Delhi Assembly that he would table a detailed report in the House.