A Class-V girl student in Assam’s Sivsagar district committed suicide by immolating herself after she failed to cope up with alleged mental and physical torture by a woman teacher in the school.
The victim was a student of the Sophy Mercy School in Sivasagar town, about 400 kms east of Guwahati. Her father is a college lecturer. Recently, the school authorities had discovered an ‘objectionable letter’ in the girl’s school bag. The authorities then asked the girl to inform her parents to come to school. But the girl kept the matter to herself fearing the parents.
On Friday when she went to school, she was allegedly tortured by the principal, both mentally and physically. She set herself on fire at home in the evening when no one was around. Neighbours rushed her to a local hospital. later, she was shifted to a hospital in Dibrugarh where she succumbed to her burn injuries on Sunday. The parents of the girl had filed an FIR against the school authorities.
In her statement in the hospital, the 11-year-old girl expressed innocence saying she was falsely implicated. The police have detained the teacher for questioning. “It appears to be a case of suicide. But we are still investigating the case,” Sivasagar Superintendent of Police Bijoy Kuligam said. The incident has sparked off protests in the district with a number of organisations demanding a judicial enquiry into the matter.
“It is a very unfortunate incident. We have demanded a judicial probe because we want the culprit to get punished,” said Ashwini Chetia, a leader of All Tai Ahom Students’ Union. “We have lost a minor girl because she was harassed in school. We want the State Government to step in to stop harassment of students by teachers across the State,” said Prabal Dey, a leader of All Assam Bengali Youth Students’ Federation.