MADURAI: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has taken suo motu cognisance of the suicide of a Dalit girl at Usilampatti on 25th August, whose mother alleges that she took the extreme step after the two were humiliated by a government school headmistress when they sought admission to Class 11.
In a communication received by the district administration on October 5, the panel has asked Madurai District Collector Nishant Krishna to submit a report on the incident.
The Usilampatti police have registered an FIR under section 108 (abetment of suicide) of BNS and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against Vimala Devi, headmistress of the Government Model Higher Secondary School in Usilampatti, who is now under suspension. The FIR was registered based on a complaint filed on August 28 by the girl’s mother, P Thavamani.
However, police sources said they have been unable to proceed with the investigation because Vimala Devi has obtained an interim stay, and she is now on bail.
In her complaint, Thavamani said that when she and her daughter approached the headmistress for admission on August 24, the headmistress got angry when the girl asked her mother not to fold her hands before her. The headmistress then asked the girl to leave the school.
Thavamani alleged that the headmistress questioned the girl’s conduct for trying to join the school despite having already been admitted to the Government Kallar Higher Secondary School. The headmistress then allegedly phoned her counterpart there and enquired about the girl’s conduct on speaker mode. According to Thavamani, this upset the girl.
The girl left the school crying and remained distressed after returning home. The following day, they went to the school where she had completed Class 10 and collected her Transfer Certificate. However, she died by suicide that evening when she was alone in the house, said the police source.
The district education department suspended Vimala Devi for administrative inefficiency after a preliminary inquiry. The inquiry found that she did not handle the situation with the required administrative sensitivity and efficiency.
A police source said the girl had scored 415 marks in Class X and joined the Biology-Mathematics stream hoping to become a nurse. But she found it difficult and asked her teachers to allow her to shift to the Commerce stream, but they did not accept the request. Since then, she has not shown interest in going to school, the source added.
Discussing suicides can be triggering for some. However, suicides are preventable. In case you feel distressed by the content or know someone in distress, call --- Sneha, Chennai: 91-44-2464 0050, 91-44-2464 0060; Maithri, Cochin: +91 239 6272; Sumaitri, New Delhi: 2338 9090; Aasra, Mumbai: 9820466726; Fortis MentalHealth: 8376804102.