A 15-year-old girl who had jumped off the third floor of her school building in Kollam, Kerala on Friday following alleged harassment by teachers died at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. Tension prevailed in front of the school on Monday after protests by students’ outfits turned violent.
Gouri of Ramankulangara, Kollam, a Class X student of Trinity lyceum, a self-financing school in Kollam, took the extreme step after two woman teachers of her school allegedly harassed her at the staff room for objecting to the punishment given to her younger sister, a Class VIII student in the same school, for talking to other students during class hours.
Gouri had jumped off the third floor of the school building at about 1.15 pm on Friday and was taken to a private hospital run by the school management itself but the authorities there said she had suffered only a skull fracture and could be treated there. However, the girl’s condition worsened and she was shifted to the Thiruvananthapuram hospital in the evening.
The doctors at the Thiruvananthapuram hospital found that the girl had suffered fractures in the backbone and ribs apart from the skull fracture and were not confident about saving her life. Also, a broken rib had ruptured her lungs. Gouri died of internal bleeding and a heart attack at about 2.00 am Monday, according to doctors.
According to the relatives of the girl, the school authorities had hidden from them the fact that she had jumped off the building. “First they said she had slipped off the staircase. Then they said she had fallen from the first floor. The hospital people lied about her condition. She was able to speak immediately after the fall but they did not let her speak to us,” said a relative.
Teachers at the school had made Gouri’s younger sit among the boys as a punishment for talking to other students during class time almost a week ago. The girl had questioned this and their mother met the school authorities and threatened to file a complaint against the teachers but they assured her that this would not happen again.
However, Gouri was called to the staff room by the teachers on Friday afternoon and was allegedly harassed over this. According to other students at the school, she was called to the staff room while she was having her lunch. It was after this that she had jumped off the third floor of the building.
The police have registered a criminal case against two lady teachers – Gouri’s class teacher Crescenta and her sister’s class teacher Sindhu – of the school on the basis of a complaint from the girl’s father that she had taken the extreme step due to the mental torture inflicted by them. The two teachers have reportedly gone into hiding.
“The school management and the hospital authorities did not want us or the police to know what had happened to our child. It is certain that they had delayed treatment deliberately. The doctors at the Thiruvananthapuram hospital said her life could have been saved if she had been brought there a little while earlier,” said the girl’s relative.
Various students’ and youth outfits took out protest marches to the school following the incident triggering tension in the area. Activists of pro-CPI(M) student outfit SFI pelted stones at the police who blocked their march with barricades. The police had to lathi-charge the students and explode tear gas shells. Several students, policemen and mediamen were injured in the incident.
Apart from the SFI, Congress student outfit KSU, pro-CPI AISF, ABVP, etc also took out protest marches to the school on Monday. Student leaders said they would not let the school function till those responsible for the girl’s death were arrested while the KSU called for an Education Bandh in Kollam district on Tuesday to protest the police action on protesters.