E-Paper
La Marts principal, teachers' bail extended
A local court on Friday allowed the principal and three other teachers of La Martiniere school to remain on bail till their trial for allegedly abetting the suicide of student Rouvanjit Rawla was completed.
A local court on Friday allowed the principal and three other teachers of La Martiniere school to remain on bail till their trial for allegedly abetting the suicide of student Rouvanjit Rawla was completed.
City sessions court chief judge Dipak Saha Ray directed principal Sunirmal Chakravarthi, middle-school head LG Ganian, and teachers David Ryon and Partha Dutta to appear in court on February 17 for a hearing on the framing of charges against them.
The teachers’ advocate, Sudipto Moitra, told the court since the judicial magistrate had granted them bail while sending the case to the sessions court, they were legally entitled to stay out of jail till the case was completed. The teachers are also likely to apply for acquittal on the grounds that there was “nothing” to prove the charges against them.
Rouvanjit, 13, a Class 8 student of La Martiniere for Boys, hanged himself on February 12 last year after being allegedly caned by the principal and three other teachers on the school premises.
Opposing the bail plea, the advocates of the Rawla family, Kalyan Banerjee and Sandipan Ganguly, argued since the offence was "non-bailable and most heinous", they should not be allowed to remain free.
Rouvanjit’s father, Ajay Rawla, had lodged a complaint with the police station closest to the school, accusing the principal and the teachers of goading his minor son to suicide.
