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Rajasthan: Dalit student allegedly dies by suicide after harassment from teachers
The family of the boy have registered a first information report (FIR) accusing the school teachers of “voluntarily murdering their son and later hanging the body from a fan intending to make it look like a suicide incident”
A 15-year-old Dalit student allegedly died by suicide in Rajasthan’s Kotputli district on Wednesday after he was allegedly harassed by school teachers who slurred casteist remarks, people aware of the matter said.
Following the incident, the two teachers were suspended by the school authority on Thursday, according to the people mentioned above.
The family of the boy have registered a first information report (FIR) accusing the school teachers of “voluntarily murdering their son and later hanging the body from a fan intending to make it look like a suicide incident”.
Police said that the boy was found dead by school cleaning staff on Wednesday morning in his classroom.
The staff informed the police and a police team along with a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team reached the incident scene to examine.
Police said that prima facie, it was a case of suicide, but they have registered a case against the two accused teachers.
A case has been registered under section 302 (murder), 34 (criminal act done by several persons) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and section 3-2(v) SC/ST Act, police said.
“Prima facie it is not a murder but a suicide incident only. However, the autopsy is due as the family of the victim didn’t allow us to initiate the process yet,” said the local station house officer (SHO).
Kotputli superintendent of police Ranjeeta Sharma said, “The investigation is underway. We are negotiating with the family regarding their demands. We want to finish the autopsy process soon. Further actions will be taken based on the autopsy report and other findings during the investigation process.”
According to the complaint registered by the family members, their son had complained of harassment and torture from the two school teachers.
“No action was taken against those two teachers by the principal and the vice-principal even after repeated pleas. Instead, the principal said that ‘your caste will never change’,” the complaint further mentioned.
Police said that one of his classmates, a class X student, also claimed that the two teachers verbally and physically abused the Dalit boy.
“He demanded an apology for casteist remarks in the class. But the teachers made continued making casteist slur boasting that nobody would dare to tell them anything as they have a ‘rich family background’,” said the class X student to the media on Thursday.
Another boy added: “One of the teachers slapped him twice, pulled his hair, and said that his family would now have to apologise by touching their feet.”
Meanwhile, the victim’s relatives staged a protest in front of the police station and demanded compensation of Rs.50 lakh, a government job for any one person in the family, and immediate action against the accused.
Speaking to the reporters, the victim’s uncle said that they had not received any satisfactory answer from the school authorities. “If it is a suicide, why did the school authority suspend those two teachers? The administration is also not paying attention to our demands. We want the strictest punishment for the perpetrators,” he said.
No arrests have been made so far, said police.
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