NCPCR to probe student's suicide over being slapped for going to school with bindi

RANCHI: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on Thursday said it will probe the death of a Class 10 student who allegedly died by suicide after being slapped by a teacher for coming to school with a bindi on her forehead.

The incident happened at Tetulmari in Dhanbad on July 10, after a female teacher allegedly slapped the 17-year-old girl during prayer for the bindi. The police have arrested the teacher, and the principal of the school.

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"We have received information that a student had committed suicide in Dhanbad after being beaten and humiliated for going to school with a bindi. The NCPCR has taken cognisance of the incident and we will investigate the matter," its chairperson Priyank Kanoongo said.

He added a team from the NCPCR will be visiting Dhanbad to investigate the matter. The girl had left a suicide note in which she allegedly held the teacher and the principal of the school responsible for the incident, the police said. In the suicide note, addressed to the officer-in-charge of the Tetulmari police station, she said she could not tolerate the insult in public and preferred death, the police said.

She also demanded action against the teacher and the principal, police said. After returning home from school, the girl hanged herself from the ceiling fan in her room. The police have seized the suicide note and lodged an FIR against the teacher and the principal. The girl's family alleged that when her mother went to the school to complain against the teacher for slapping and humiliating her daughter, the principal sent her back.