Six days after a 16-year-old student of a private school in Greater Faridabad died by suicide, with a police complaint by his mother alleging he was harassed over his sexuality, Faridabad police on Wednesday formed a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the case.
The four-member SIT will be headed by ACP Central Satyapal Yadav. BPTP police station SHO, one officer from women police station and an assistant sub inspector from BPTP police station will be part of the SIT.
Sube Singh, spokesperson, Faridabad police, said, “Child welfare committee officials will also provide assistance to the SIT during the course of investigation. It will work on the basis of scientific aspects and accordingly gather evidence.
On February 24, a Class 10 student of a private school in Greater Faridabad had died by suicide. In a purported suicide note recovered by the police, the student had blamed his school and higher authorities. On the complaint of the boy’s mother, the police had registered a case of abetment of suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code against the headmistress and school administration. On Sunday, the headmistress was arrested and sent to judicial custody.
On Monday, police had said that they are likely to question other students during the course of investigation, adding that the allegations of sexual harassment will also be probed. Police had taken samples of handwriting from the boy’s diary and some school documents to match them with the one in the purported suicide note.
Last week, police had called the victim’s mother to record her statement. She had said that she had shared with the police repeated incidents of harassment suffered by her son at the school and also named a few students. Police had said that the statement could only be partially recorded.
In the police complaint, the boy’s mother had alleged that one year ago, her son had confided in her that some boys in school had harassed him over his sexuality.
I had filed several complaints to the school authorities but no action was taken by them. My son was depressed and his treatment was going on from Delhi. On Wednesday, he had Science exam at school and since he suffered from dylexia, he was unable to solve numerical problems in the paper. He sought help from headmistress but she rebuked him and accused him of taking advantage of his condition. She said both son and daughter are creating drama and that she would not promote him to the next class. Due to this, he was quite stressed and worried,” she had said in the police complaint.
The boy’s mother had told that in March 2021, her son was sexually harassed in the school washroom by some boys. While the school principal and other authorities have not responded to this specific allegation, the principal had last week said that children are nurtured and not harassed there.
