Delhi school suicide: Parents, students protest outside school

Nearly 100 protested at St Columba's School after a student’s suicide linked to harassment by staff, revealing a pattern of intimidation and humiliation.

Nearly 100 protesters – parents, students and family friends – gathered outside St Columba’s School on Friday afternoon, carrying placards and demanding accountability after a 16-year-old student died by suicide earlier this week accusing four staffers of harassment.

Parents hold a protest outside St Columba's School on Friday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

Many at the protest site expressed anger, as parents and children stepped forward to recount what they described as a pattern of humiliation and intimidation by the same three teachers and the headmistress named in the police complaint.

Some recalled students being singled out for pending fees, others described teachers who threatened to slap children or mocked them in full classrooms.

The tragedy unfolded on Tuesday afternoon, when the Class 10 student jumped from the upper level of a west Delhi Metro station. A case of abetment to suicide has since been registered after police found a note in his bag alleging sustained harassment by the four staff members.

At the protest, the boy’s closest friends huddled together and recalled their frantic efforts to trace him on Tuesday. One of them said he and two others had rushed out searching for their friend after his mother called to say he had not returned home.

He said all four in their group had been “picked on” by the accused teachers. “We were constantly troubled, scolded, humiliated. We didn’t think he would take such a step. He was so good at acting and writing. He wanted to become an actor,” he said.

Another friend, who starts his pre-board exams next week, said the boy wrote drama scripts “in minutes” and loved performing. “He admired the actors who had studied here. He used to say he wanted to carry the legacy forward like SRK.”

Among the adults at the protest was a mother who said one of the accused teacher had humiliated her son — admitted under the EWS quota — for months for not paying fees. “My son was in Class 8 then. Every day, this teacher made him stand up and asked him to get the fees paid, even though other EWS parents hadn’t paid either. Kids laughed at him. After a month of this humiliation, we finally paid,” she said.

She added that on Thursday, as the media coverage about the suicide picked momentum, students were made to sit inside classrooms the entire day without bathroom breaks, because teachers feared they would “talk to each other”.

Parents repeated similar allegations: that certain children were singled out for minor mistakes; that reprimands often turned into taunts; and that teachers used the threat of expulsion casually.

Near the school gate, a family friend said she had known the boy for four years. “He was cheerful… always cracking jokes. Teenagers are sensitive. When you humiliate a child in front of classmates, it leaves scars,” she said.

When the school day ended at 1.45pm, several students – classmates and friends of the boy – joined the crowd, their faces covered with green mufflers and handkerchiefs. They said they had been warned not to speak to the media. “We have been told disciplinary action will be taken if we talk or protest,” one student said, clutching a placard demanding justice.

Another Class 9 student said he did not know the full details of Tuesday’s incident but recognised the teachers’ reputations. “They’re rude. They take everything personally. They want to ‘give back’ to students,” he said.

A classmate standing beside him recounted a teacher’s alleged remark: “I can easily slap you… the worst is I’ll get suspended. It won’t change anything in my life.”