Four staff members have been suspended after an FIR was filed in the case of a Class 10 student who died by suicide in Delhi. A high-level inquiry is underway.
Parents protest outside a Delhi school following the alleged suicide of a Class 10 student. (ANI video grab)
Four employees of a central Delhi school have been placed under temporary suspension after an FIR named several staff members in connection with the alleged suicide of a Class 10 student on November 18.
Questions over how the school responded to the student’s complaints of alleged mental harassment have prompted both police and administrative inquiries.
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A senior Delhi Education Department official said a high-level inquiry committee, comprising senior officers, has been formed to examine the incident and assess the school’s response. The panel has been asked to submit its findings within three days.
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Suspension orders were issued individually to the headmistress (Classes 4–10), the coordinator for Classes 9 and 10, and two teachers. The orders state that they will remain suspended until the inquiry concludes. They have also been instructed not to enter the premises or interact with students, staff or parents without written permission, while staying available for communication.
Each order notes, “In view of the seriousness of the allegations, the competent authority has decided to place you under suspension with immediate effect.”
The student’s father told a news agency that the suspensions fell short of accountability, calling them “only temporary”. He demanded the arrest of those named in the FIR. “We need to send a message that no teacher should treat our children like that,” he said.
The Education Department said the committee had been set up “in pursuance of the imperative to comprehensively ascertain the factual matrix, causative circumstances and administrative accountability associated with the unfortunate incident that occurred on November 18.” It added that the team would carry out a “thorough, objective and time-bound inquiry.”
According to police, the 16-year-old left a suicide note in which he named a few teachers, alleged mental harassment, apologised to his family, and requested organ donation. The FIR, registered at Rajendra Nagar police station, includes charges of abetment of suicide. Investigators are recording statements of classmates, teachers and administrators.
The student died on Tuesday afternoon after allegedly jumping from the Rajendra Place Metro Station. He was taken to BLK Super Speciality Hospital, where he was declared dead.
News of the incident sparked a large gathering of parents and students outside the school, demanding accountability. Several parents told news agency IANS that some teachers routinely intimidated students.
One parent said, “Students here are afraid to talk to their teachers… Because of some teachers here, there is a lot of fear inside the children and due to fear, they are not able to say anything.”
A friend of the student said he had confided in her about alleged humiliation during activities at school. “He told me that he gets insulted a lot… The teacher is very demotivating. He was under a lot of stress,” she said.
Also Read: Delhi student suicide case: Parents protest outside school after note alleges harassment by teachers
The FIR filed by the father states that the student had been “under severe mental stress” because of repeated harassment. The family alleged that the boy had earlier complained that certain teachers “scolded, insulted and mentally tormented him over minor issues”, but their concerns remained unaddressed.
Both inquiries, by the police and the Education Department, remain underway.
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