A teacher forced a girl student of class 9 in Jamshedpur district of Jharkhand to take off her clothes in the classroom, suspecting that she was carrying materials for cheating in the terminal examination. When the girl returned home in the evening of October 14, she immolated herself and died at Tata Main Hospital on Friday.
Jamshedpur (Jharkhand): A student of class 9 in Jamshedpur district of Jharkhand, who set herself afire after being forced to strip by her teacher on suspicion of cheating in the examination hall, died on Thursday night, the police said on Friday. The girl identified as Ritu Mukhi was a student of Saradamoni Girls School. She committed suicide after returning home on October 14.
Her parents took her to Tata Main Hospital in Jamshedpur where she died. As the incident spawned resentment among locals, the district administration deployed security forces from the hospital to the cremation ground on Friday when her last rites were performed.
On getting information, Jamshedpur deputy commissioner Vijaya Jadhav rushed to hospital. A medical board was set up to conduct the autopsy of the girl’s body. The police arrested the teacher concerned Chandra Das who forced the girl to strip to find whether she was carrying any material for cheating during the terminal examination. The school management also suspended principal Geeta Rani Mahato, sources said.
In her dying statement, the girl said that the teacher had accused her of cheating in the examination and did not listen to her. Besides slapping her, the teacher forced her to take off her clothes in front of everyone in the class. Although the teacher had not found any material for cheating, she took her to the principal’s room. She had been so humiliated that when he returned home, he poured kerosene on herself and set herself afire. As she began to scream, her family members rushed to the spot, doused the flames and took her to TMH.
