FIR against teacher for abetment: Girl commits suicide, blames teacher ‘humiliation’ in note

Hours later, the girl was found hanging by her dupatta from the ceiling fan in her room. In a note she left behind, she wrote that she did not want to go to school again because she had been “humiliated” by a teacher. (Representational Image)

On Thursday afternoon, a 16-year-old girl studying at a government school and her younger sister returned home early from school. “My elder daughter had tears in her eyes and she told me that she was humiliated by a teacher. She was fine after she spoke to me,” her mother alleged. Hours later, the girl was found hanging by her dupatta from the ceiling fan in her room. In a note she left behind, she wrote that she did not want to go to school again because she had been “humiliated” by a teacher.

On Friday afternoon, police filed an FIR against the teacher, who works at Sarvodaya Girls School, Ghazipur, on charges of abetment to suicide. When contacted, the school principal said she was not aware of the incident. The Director of Education Saumya Gupta and advisor to the Education Minister Atishi Marlena did not respond to calls seeking a comment.

“We registered an FIR under IPC Section 306 against the teacher on the basis of a complaint filed by the Class XI student’s father. Investigation is underway. A suicide note has also been recovered. The body was sent for post-mortem and has been handed over to the family,” Rakesh Kumar Mishra, DCP (Indirapuram), said. Police said the girl lived in Mithila Vihar, in Ghaziabad’s Khoda Colony, along with her parents, four siblings and grandmother. The family hails from Bihar’s Nalanda district.

Addressing the note to her 45-year-old father, the girl wrote that she had been “humiliated” by a teacher and that she did not want to go to school again. “Due to this, I am going far away from all of you,” she wrote. Back home, her father wondered what the teacher could have said to his daughter. “She was a good student. Her elder brother is pursuing BSc. Two days ago, they got into an argument. She had told him that she would become a teacher and earn money. How humiliated did my daughter feel that she took such a step just a day later?” said her father, who works at a tyre-manufacturing unit.

“My daughters recently enrolled in the government school. I met her teachers two-three times; there were no complaints,” he said. Her mother said, “As parents, we bring our children into this world but it is the teacher who actually helps them understand the world.”

A day after her death, no one sat on the bed right below the fan, where her body was found hanging. Her father flipped though a notebook with a green cover, that had his daughter’s name written on it. Pointing to mathematical equations, he said, “Her handwriting is so beautiful. She was studying commerce along with mathematics.” Her mother, meanwhile, tried to recount the events of the previous day. “It was a half day at school, since it was the last day of the month. She and my younger daughter reached home around 11-11.30 am. They were sitting and watching TV, when I noticed tears in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that she was humiliated by her teacher, and that the teacher would call her father to school tomorrow and humiliate him. I asked her not to worry and went out. When I came back, she was gone.”