The Gautam Budh Nagar Police has booked two teachers and the principal of Ahlcon Public School, Mayur Vihar 1, for sexual harassment, criminal intimidation and abetment to suicide after a Class IX student killed herself at her residence in Noida Sector 52 late on Tuesday.
The Noida Police top brass have suspended a constable for not adding sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act in the FIR. Her family has alleged sexual harassment of the victim by one of teachers which led her to take the extreme step.
Following the complaint filed by the parents of the 15-year-old girl, the Gautam Budh Nagar police visited the school on Wednesday afternoon. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday announced a probe by the education department into the alleged suicide.
The Gautam Budh Nagar police registered an FIR under Sections 306(Abetment of suicide), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation), 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and the POCSO Act during the early hours of Wednesday against the trio — the two subject teachers and the school principal.
In a shocking revelation, a note left behind by the student in her school notebook saying, “I am traumatised that I am going mad day after day”, has been recovered by the Gautam Budh Nagar police team which visited the girl’s school on Wednesday. The note corroborates the claims levelled by the family of the student who ended her life owing to overwhelming pressure and alleged mental torture and sexual assault by the two teachers.
The Gautam Budh Nagar Police on Wednesday afternoon visited the East Delhi based school, Ahlcon Public School in Mayur Vihar 1 and questioned the staff members of the school. The cops questioned 15 people, including the Principal, Vice-Principal and two teachers, for nearly 3 hours and 30 minutes. “The school authorities have been asked not to leave the city till the investigation is over,” said a senior police officer.
On Tuesday night, the girl was found hanging from the ceiling of her house in Noida Sector 52. Police said the matter came to fore when the girl’s parents, who were out for some work, returned home but the girl did not respond to door bells. When they forcibly opened the door of her room, she was found hanging. The family rushed her to Kailash Hospital in Noida, where she was declared dead on arrival, police said. Following this, the family members of the deceased had lodged a complaint against the school and teachers claiming that their ward was in depression following sexual harassment from the two teachers and low marks which she had obtained in her recently concluded final exams.
Rajeev Kumar Singh, Circle officer 2, (City), said, Noida police have collected the CCTV footages from the school. “Classrooms are not covered by the cameras installed on school premises.
We have given notices to the two teachers and the principal of the school. Statement of the family has been recorded and further investigations are being carried out based on their allegations,” Singh said, adding that the
school authorities have, however, denied all the allegations raised by the family.
Calling the incident “unfortunate”, Dharmendra Goyal, principal of Ahlcon Public School said, “The school had been following promotion policies of CBSE and that the student was not failed, instead a re-test was scheduled. We will cooperate with probe agencies.”
The principal, however, denied about any possibilities of the sexual harassment against the child by school teachers. “The student was given marks based on her answer-sheet. The allegation of harassment is not true. The student’s family had not complained to the management about the issue, Goyal said. However the girl’s father refuted the claim and said he had given a written complaint but the principal refused to meet him.
Preliminary autopsy report of the girl also ascertained death by hanging on Wednesday, police said, after which her body was handed over to the family members. In their complaint, the family said three months ago, the girl had complained that her SST teacher Rajiv Sehgal touched her inappropriately and threatened to fail her if she resisted or raised alarm. After this, the girl’s father even went to the school and met the principal to bring the matter to light, however, he said, no action was taken against the teacher.
Family has also said she was in depression as her Science teacher Neeraj Anand deliberately used to give her low marks. After primary probe on Tuesday evening, police said the girl had spoken to her father around 4:15 pm but she started crying while talking. Family has said she was under depression and had told her father that she was trying to study hard but the two teachers deliberately failed her, said a senior police officer.
