FARIDABAD
The school authorities did not initiate any action on her repeated verbal and written complaints regarding her son’s harassment by fellow students, said the mother of a teenager who died by suicide at a group housing society in Faridabad last week.
‘All my pleas citing his poor mental health also met with indifference, pushing him over the edge,” said the woman who has blamed the school and fellow students for “harassing” her son for his sexuality.
The 16-year-old, a Class X student of a prominent private school in Greater Faridabad, jumped off a multistorey building on February 24. In a note the boy wrote, “This school has killed me. Specially higher authorities. I cannot live in this hateful world (sic)”. He also named a faculty member in his note.
‘Trust’ on school authorities
His mother, who has been teaching arts at the same school for almost a decade, told The Hindu that she trusted the school authorities because of her long association and initially only made verbal complaints to them about her son’s repeated harassment. “I made countless complaints but to no avail. Finally, I wrote an email to the school authorities in August last year but they replied to it a month later, saying my complaint was unsubstantiated and the accused students had already left the school,” said the woman, a single mother.
She said her son suffered panic attacks after he was sexually abused by some students on the school premises. He was later diagnosed with dyslexia too and was under treatment. The mother said the school authorities even refused to acknowledge the prescription of the doctors, saying they were “fake”, and accused her of trying to take undue advantage of his condition. “My son had difficulty in solving a numerical question during an exam and sought the help of a senior academic coordinator but she scolded him for taking undue advantage of his condition. The teacher said she would not admit him in the next class and this further pushed him into deep depression,” reads the police complaint lodged by the mother.
The academic coordinator, now arrested on charges of abetment to suicide, was the contact point for all communications meant for the school principal.
Support from colleagues
The mother said many of her former colleagues at the school had contacted her after the incident and also commented on her posts on social media extending their support. “I am an artist. An artist is pure at heart. All my former colleagues have also supported me,” said the woman.
The mother said the teenager was a “bright and sensitive” child and an artist at heart. “My son had the right to live. The boys who harassed him are also responsible for his death. They are criminals roaming free. Eight of them are known and I have told the police about them,” said the mother.
The school authorities have denied the allegations of inaction, saying that the boy was under stress due to personal health issues.
“ My son had the right to live. The boys who harassed him are also responsible for his death. They are criminals roaming free. Eight of them are known and I have told the police about them”Mother of the teenager
