NOIDA: The parents and relatives of Ekisha Sah, a Class IX student who was found dead at her Noida home on Tuesday, led a protest on the Noida-Delhi road near
Mayur Vihar for five hours from Thursday noon, throwing traffic out of gear.
The protesters — around 200 of them — first demonstrated for two hours outside Ahlcon Public School, where Ekisha studied, demanding the immediate arrest of two teachers and the principal. After the management refused to meet them, they moved to the Delhi-Noida flank of the road to hold their agitation.
Ekisha (16) was found dead at her home on Tuesday evening. Her parents have accused principal
Dharmendra Goyal, science teacher
Neeraj Anand and social science teacher Rajiv Sehgal of mentally harassing her and failing her “intentionally” so they could accommodate a student who “pays a donation”.
Ekisha’s parents have also levelled allegations that their daughter had been touched inappropriately, following which the principal and the teachers have been booked for sexual assault and abetment to suicide. The UP police have registered a case while the Delhi education department has ordered a separate probe. Senior police officers said they had not found any leads yet on the sexual harassment angle.
The protest in Mayur Vihar had a cascading effect till evening as vehicles queued up for kilometres. Police teams diverted traffic on the service lane along Mayur Vihar Phase 1 metro station but the protesters then moved to the Noida-Delhi side of the road.
Ekisha’s father Raghav Sah said he had gone to meet the school authorities. “The management did not allow us to enter the premises. They refused to meet us. We were forced to protest and halt traffic movement,” he said.
Ekisha’s mother Deepmala Nutan held her daughter’s Kathak anklets as she protested. Ekisha’s friends have said though she was an average student, she was an excellent Kathak dancer. “Two days have passed but the police have not made any arrest so far. We demand the arrest of all the three accused and a proper investigation into the functioning of the school,” Nutan said.
Raghav also demanded the case be transferred to a central agency like the CBI. A number of students from Ekisha’s brother Aryan’s college had joined the protest. Some female students had painted their faces red to protest sexual harassment in institutions.
“Death of an artiste is a national loss”, “Justice for Ekisha”, read some of the placards. The protesters said they were pained to see a minor student forced to commit suicide because of alleged harassment and humiliation. “No action has been taken against the accused . This is more saddening,” said Mohit, a protester. Ekisha’s family and friends have launched a campaign on social media.
The five-hour protest created trouble for scores of commuters. Some schoolchildren returning home were also stranded.
A drizzle around .:45pm failed to deter the protesters.
Shobhit D Saxena, ACP (Mayur Vihar), said: “We requested the student’s family members to clear the road but they refused. We spoke to Noida police officers, who called the family for a meeting, but they declined the offer. Traffic remained stagnated till the evening,” he said.
Around 5pm, the protest was lifted after the police assured Ekisha’s parents of a speedy investigation. Police sources said their investigation hinged on a re-evaluation of Ekisha’s answer sheets, scanning of CCTV footage, scanning the student’s academic records and questioning the teachers. The police said they were also trying to find out if more students had failed in Class IX and were scanning two months’ CCTV footage to see if the allegations of sexual harassment were true.
Arun Kumar Singh, SP (city) Noida, said the police had sought documents from the school as part of their investigation. “The accused will be arrested once we get substantial evidence,” he said.
Representative image
