Chhattisgarh school girl dies by suicide after accusing teacher of harassment

NEW DELHI: A 12-year-old girl allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself at home in Chhattisgarh's Surguja district after accusing a woman teacher from her school of harassing her, police said on Thursday. The accused teacher was arrested on Wednesday based on a suicide note found in the victim's room, City Superintendent of Police (Ambikapur) Smruthik Rajnala said. The Class 6 student of a private school was found hanging from the ceiling in a room of her house in Darripara area under Manipur police station limits late Tuesday night, he said.

A suicide note was found in the room in which the girl accused the teacher of harassing her, he said. "A forensic team collected evidence from the spot and the post-mortem was conducted. Statements of the girl's parents, students and teachers of the school were recorded. The suicide note was examined by a handwriting expert," he said. Based on the investigation, the teacher was booked under Indian Penal Code section 305 (abetment of suicide of child), the official said adding that further investigation was underway.

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In the suicide note written in English and dated February 6, the girl claimed the ID cards of her and her two friends were snatched by the teacher. "My friends told me that she is dangerous and she (will) take you to headmistress and also call your parents. I was scared and decided to kill myself," she wrote, while holding the teacher responsible for the extreme step. The girl also requested that her friends be saved from getting punished. The deceased's father, a government officer, told reporters that he was on a two-day visit to Raipur and his daughter spoke to him over a video call at 6.30 pm (on Tuesday) but did not tell him anything.

"She wrote on the suicide note please don't give punishment to my friends," he said and alleged that teachers at the school tortured the students He also claimed that when his daughter was in the nursery class, another teacher harassed and thrashed her after he spoke to her about not teaching properly. "My daughter stopped telling me about the harassment as whenever parents visit school to speak to teachers over some issues, the next day teachers take revenge and torture students," he said. "Please save the students. They are innocent," he added.