Pune: School headmaster ends life after students’ parents beat him up

PUNE: The Sinhagad Road police on Friday booked certain individuals for abetting the suicide of the headmaster of a school at Donje village, near the foothills of the Sinhagad fort,

The suspects are the parents of some Class IX students of the same school.

Ashok Kaware, the 57-year-old headmaster, had ended his life by jumping into the canal waters at Vadgaon Budruk, off Sinhagad Road, on September 26. He had reportedly taken the extreme step after being humiliated by the parents and students — they had beaten and abused Kaware for punishing some students at the school.

Varsha Ashok Kaware, the headmaster’s wife, had lodged a complaint with the police after the incident.

According to the First Information Report (FIR), on September 24, Kaware had punished five students for mischief at school. When the students complained to their parents, they rushed to the school to confront the headmaster. They then hurled abuses at Kaware and even beat him up.

The parents had also threatened Ashok Kaware with dire consequences, said assistant inspector Jyoti Gadkari, who currently investigating the case.

The news of the incident soon spread in the village and adjacent hamlets.

This left Kaware traumatised and perturbed.

“He was very disturbed. He had sustained a mental trauma,” Varsha said in her police complaint.

The complainant told police that her husband was innocent and had served the school honestly for many years. Kaware’s retirement was approaching and the incident had left him shocked, the police officials said.

Dejected, Kaware ended his life by jumping into the canal water, his wife said.

According to the police, the man who first attacked Kaware on the school premises is a local political leader. He has represented the village at the Zilla Parishad and in the gram panchayat level.

When TOI contacted a few local residents of Donje village on Saturday, they were all praise for Kaware. They said he was a good teacher and a good man.