After Kerala student’s suicide, mother accuses schoolmates of bullying & harassment

The death by suicide of a 15-year-old student allegedly after following bullying, assault, and harassment from his schoolmates in Kerala’s Kochi has triggered outrage, with the state government ordering an inquiry.

According to his family, the teenager jumped from the 26th floor of his apartment building in Kochi following brutal ragging and “humiliation” from his schoolmates at Global Public School over his skin colour. The Global Public School is affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education.

In her complaint to the state police chief, the teenager’s mother said: “On that day (January 15), he was forcibly taken to a washroom, where was made to lick the toilet seat. His head was pushed into the toilet when it was flushed. He was bullied for his skin colour. Even after his death, certain students continued to insult him. We have got a social media chat in which a person messaged ‘f**k nigga, he actually died’. They were celebrating his death”.

She further claimed that her son faced harassment from the vice-principal of GEMS Modern Academy, where he had been enrolled until October of last year. The police have filed a case for investigation under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Calling the incident “shocking”, Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty said the director of general education was asked to conduct a probe.

“Every CBSE affiliated school in Kerala functions after obtaining an NOC from the state government. Strong action will be taken against schools where things which are against social welfare take place. We will initiate steps to prevent such incidents and action will be taken against the institutions,” he said, adding that a police investigation is ongoing.

In her petition, the teenager’s mother said her family found out about the incidents only after his death. She also added that some students had created a WhatsApp group that it shed light on the “torture”.

“The group was deleted and school authorities had prevented the students from revealing the details,” she said.

The police said it was still investigating. “At present we cannot arrive at a conclusion on whether ragging happened or not. Both Global Public School and GEMS School are under probe,” Hill Palace police station SHO K G Aneesh said.

He further said: “The student was suspended from GEMS school on charges of slapping a girl student. The girl had pinched him and he publicly reacted in that way. There is a general feeling that the school management overreacted by suspending him. They could have taken a token action against him. We are probing this also”.

The allegation of ragging started with social media posts, which were deleted later, he added.

The Global Public School said it was “fully cooperating with the police, which have already recorded the statements of students and parents.”

“We also want the truth to come out,” principal Philip George said. “At the same time, we have not got any complaint regarding ragging. After the allegations came up, we have examined the CCTV footage and found nothing unusual. The student had returned home happy. He had been a student here only a few months and through that period there were no issues. His death was unfortunate.”