Kin accept body after viewing autopsy video

“Corporal punishment and group clashes are not new in private schools in Namakkal district”

September 16, 2013 03:36 am | Updated June 02, 2016 12:23 pm IST - SALEM/NAMAKKAL:

Relatives of Mohanraj waiting  to receive his body after the post-mortem  at the government hospital in Salem on Sunday. PHOTO: E.LAKSHMI NARAYANAN

Relatives of Mohanraj waiting to receive his body after the post-mortem at the government hospital in Salem on Sunday. PHOTO: E.LAKSHMI NARAYANAN

Relatives of a 16-year-old student who died in a private school hostel in Namakkal, insisted on watching the video recording of the autopsy done in Salem Government Hospital on Sunday before accepting his body.

After getting a copy of the video and viewing it, they collected the body of M. Mohanraj and took it to his native village – Magudanchavadi near Ernapuram, Salem district – around 1.30 p.m. “We were informed that the doctor’s report would be ready after the chemical test in four days to confirm whether the death was murder or suicide,” the relatives added.

The correspondent, hostel warden and a 16-year-old fellow student have been arrested in connection with the suspected suicide.

“Corporal punishment and group clashes are not new in private schools in the district,” says M. Harikrishnan, elder brother of Mohanraj.

Harikrishnan, who is now doing first-year MBBS in Madras Medical College, also passed out of the same school.

Waiting outside the mortuary of the hospital in Salem with his father, he recalled that there were many inhuman incidents in the school. Had the management put an end to the group clashes among students by properly monitoring, my brother may not have died,” M. Harikrishnan said.

“We wanted to expose the ill-treatment of students in these renowned ‘super-schools’ but were not able to.”

While mobile phones were not allowed in the school, the students had to depend on public telephones under staff supervision. Students could speak to parents from public phone only once in four or six weeks, Harikrishnan said.

His father C. Maarimuthu (40), an advocate, said Mohanraj spoke to them two days before he died. “He did not, or could not, share the problems he faced in school,” said Maarimuthu.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.