Fear of rustication drives Class 6 Indore student to commit suicide

A 10-year-old student of Police Public School in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city committed suicide after he was punished and threatened with rustication by authorities, his family members have alleged.

Superintendent of police Vandana Chouhan said Hemant Jain, a Class 6 student, was found hanging in the bathroom of his house in Brahmabagh Colony on Wednesday afternoon. He came home around 3.30pm and told his mother that the school principal wanted to meet her and his father after some of his schoolmates had complained about him.

His mother asked him to freshen up and eat something. Jain went to the bathroom where he hanged himself from an iron angle with his sister’s scarf.

Chouhan said the police talked to some of his close friends, including Pratham who lived in the same locality, and came to know that Jain and some other students were made to do around 150 sit ups for some mischief they had done.

Two girls from Jain’s class complained against him on Wednesday and he was taken to the principal’s office by the class teacher. The principal wrote a note to his parents asking them to meet the school authorities and also threatened to rusticate him.

“Hemant probably got very scared due to the note sent by the principal calling his parents to the school and he told Pratham that he would commit suicide. Apparently, he had talked about committing suicide earlier also to his friends,” Chouhan added.

The school management and officials of the 15th battalion that runs the school have denied the allegation.

Commandant of the 15th battalion Anil Khushwaha said the boy’s suicide was very unfortunate.

“The principal called his parents after two of his classmates made a written complaint against him and this is normal procedure. No one is given corporal punishment in the school, and we are examining the footage from the CCTV in the school to check the truth behind the allegations,” Khushwaha said.