A 16-year-old schoolboy from Delhi, who had left his home on Tuesday morning excited about another day with his drama club, ended his life in the afternoon. Police said the Class 10 student of a private school jumped from the platform of Rajendra Place metro station in central Delhi at 2:34 pm on Tuesday, November 18.
The FIR noted that he allegedly jumped from Platform No. 2 of the Rajendra Place Metro Station.
Police recovered his school bag from the subway station, which contained a suicide note. He left a note accusing his teachers at the school of harassment and calling for strict action against them.
What did the boy’s letter reveal?
PTI quoted a senior police officer as saying that the suicide note found at the scene began with the boy identifying himself and asking the reader to call the number.
He wrote that the constant reprimands from the school staff made him commit suicide and apologized to his parents and older brother. He also asked for his organs to be donated.
“Sorry bhaiya, all the time I was rude to you,” he wrote to his brother and told his mother, “Sorry mom, no matter how many times I’ve broken your heart, I’ll do it for the last time.”
He expressed his gratitude to his parents and his guilt that he could not do more for them.
The officer said the letter ended with the boy asking that what was left of it be used to help someone else.
“Give my organs to the needy,” he wrote, adding that if any organs were still functioning after the fall, they should be donated.
A suicide note pulled from his school bag read: “I’m very sorry for doing this, but the school staff said so much that I have to do this. If any of my organ(s) is working or in a condition to work, donate it to someone who really needs it. My parents did a lot; I’m sorry I couldn’t give them anything. I’m sorry brother, I was rude, now I broke your heart for the last time, I broke your heart, I broke your heart, time.”
In his suicide note, the deceased demanded that strict action be taken against the teachers. “Meri last wish hai inke uper action le, me nahi chata koi aur bacha meri tarah kuch kare. (My last wish is that action be taken against them, I don’t want other children to suffer the way I suffered.)”
“I’m sorry, but the teachers did this to me,” he added.
Police said the allegations and the contents of the note are being investigated.
What happened on the day of the incident: “He didn’t care how much he cried”
The boy’s father said that on Tuesday the boy was late for a session at the drama club and something that happened there upset him deeply.
“He slipped and fell in drama class. The teacher pushed him and insulted him in front of everyone, saying he was exaggerating,” said the father.
“They scolded him so much that he started crying, but the teacher told him they didn’t care how much he cried.
Meanwhile, the student’s friends claimed that the alleged molestation started in Class 8.
One insisted that on the day of the incident, the 16-year-old boy told them in their Drama Club that he wanted to be “the next Shah Rukh Khan of St Columba’s”, but a teacher mocked him for “exaggerating his behaviour” and humiliated him after he slipped and fell.
According to ANI, the father was away on the day of the incident due to a medical operation of a family member.
The boy’s uncle Adesh Mule said, “Right after my nephew’s suicide, an anonymous call reached his father who was in Maharashtra… We immediately rushed to the metro station and found that people were already taking the child to the hospital…”
Mule said the 16-year-old wanted to pursue a career as an actor.
“The teacher scolded him for every little thing”
The boy told his parents that some teachers scolded him, insulted him and mentally tortured him over minor problems. The parents said they made several verbal complaints to teachers and the principal, but the alleged harassment persisted.
The father told ANI, “For the last 8-10 months, he has been complaining that his teacher scolds him for every little thing. The teacher even complained to me about his mischievous behaviour.”
“His classmates told me that the teacher threatened him and said they would give him a transfer certificate and call us (parents) to the school. It wasn’t just him, but three to four other kids were behaving the same way,” he said.
“He used to tell me and my wife that the teachers used to scold him for every little thing and hurt him emotionally. We complained verbally many times but they never stopped,” the father told PTI.
Student was depressed, plans to change school
The student victim’s aunt claimed the family was unaware of the extent of his suffering.
“He was depressed for so long. He kept complaining but we kept quiet because he was in class 10. He even told his school counselors and teachers that he was going to commit suicide but none of them informed us. We only heard this from his friends today,” she told PTI.
The boy’s father said, “We told him (the boy) that we will change his school once he passes the 10th standard.” He said: “Three days ago, just before his preliminary exams, he was threatened with expulsion.
He further mentioned that his son also wrote the names of the teachers who tortured him.
Following the incident, students and parents staged a protest outside the school, alleging that the school management had ignored repeated complaints of teacher harassment.
FIR filed, teachers suspended
The FIR, registered at the Rajendra Nagar police station, includes allegations related to inciting suicide. As part of the investigation, the police are recording the statements of classmates, teachers and school authorities.
The FIR notes that the student left for school at 7:15 am. At around 2.45pm on Tuesday, the father called that his son was lying under the Rajendra Place metro station. He was asked to take the student to a nearby hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
Four staff, including the headmistress of St Columba’s School, have been suspended after an FIR was registered against them in connection with the alleged suicide of a Class 10 student who accused them of mental harassment.
According to the suspension order, the principal (grades 4-10), the coordinator for grades 9 and 10 and two teachers have been temporarily suspended while the matter is investigated.
The student’s father told PTI that the suspension was “only temporary” and demanded the arrest of the teachers named in the FIR. “We need to send a message that no teacher should treat our children like this,” he said.
