Azamgarh: In schoolgirl’s death that led to arrest of teachers, a curious case of cellphone

Minutes before she took the extreme step, her class teacher had allegedly taken her to the principal’s chamber to complain about a mobile phone allegedly found in her school bag.

Acting on her father’s complaint, police arrested the principal, Sonam Pranav Mishra (36), and class teacher Abhishek Rai (35) on charges of murder and destruction of evidence as initial probe found that bloodstains were removed from the spot where she fell. But later, the police dropped the murder charge against the principal and class teacher and booked them for abetment to suicide.

On Thursday, August 10, both were released on bail.

“On July 28 (Friday), two teachers were checking the bags of students as part of a routine process. They recovered a phone in a red-coloured plastic box from the girl’s bag. It was switched off. She initially denied that the phone belonged to her. Since the principal was not present on Friday, we did not question the girl in detail. We only seized the phone,” the vice-principal of the school told The Indian Express.

“On Monday (July 31), the principal was informed about the recovery of the cellphone and she was summoned to the principal’s room. She again denied that the recovered phone belonged to her. But when the phone was switched on, we found that her father’s phone number was saved in it, along with others. The principal then asked the class teacher to call her parents and told the girl to wait outside the room. Around 15 minutes later, she ran towards the stairs. She reached the third floor of the building, which is under construction, and jumped off the building… It was around 1:15 pm,” the vice-principal said, refuting her family’s allegation that the 17-year-old was scolded and harassed.

“It is mentioned in the school diary that mobile phones are prohibited on campus. Teachers are also not allowed to use mobile phones during school hours. We have recovered phones from students in the past too and informed their parents. We don’t know what prompted the girl to take the extreme step,” said a school staff member, who did not wish to be named.

According to the school authorities, the girl joined the school in May this year.

The girl’s family, however, alleged that she was “forced” to take the extreme step as the school authorities “harassed” her after claiming to have recovered a mobile phone from her bag. “I saw the phone…it does not belong to us. I had purchased a cellphone for my daughter this January, and it is still with us. We bought her a phone because her grandfather was hospitalised, and she had to stay alone in the house on several occasions. After her grandfather’s death, we stopped giving the phone to her. The SIM card, which had been removed, was with my daughter,” said her 44-year-old father, who works as a private contractor, adding the SIM card found inside the “seized” phone belongs to him.

“On the morning of July 31, we got a call, asking us to come to the school. The caller did not say why. Around an hour later, another school staffer called me and asked me to reach the school as soon as possible. I came to know what happened only after I reached there,” said the girl’s mother.

“Police altered the charges and arrested the principal and teacher on weak IPC sections… The school association is also standing with the accused and providing help to them. No one is talking about what we have lost. The principal and the teacher may walk out of the jail, but can we get our daughter back?” she said.

“We have been fighting for justice… We send our children to schools with the assurance that they will be safe. If anything happens to our children, who will be held responsible?” the mother, a homemaker, said.

The couple has an eight-year-old son. One of the uncles of the girl who taught in another branch of the school reportedly quit after the incident.

According to police, no suicide note has been recovered.

“It was found during the probe that the girl jumped off the building after she was instigated in some way,” Circle Officer (Azamgarh) Gaurav Sharma said.

District Magistrate (Azamgarh) Vishal Bhardwaj said a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the girl’s death and a three-member committee has been formed to look into “all aspects” of the incident.

The school has around 800 students and 39 teaching staff. It has been operational for the past four decades and has several branches in Azamgarh district.

The arrest of the school principal and the teacher triggered a protest by Uttar Pradesh Unaided Private Schools Association, which decided to shut all the private schools in the state for a day – August 8.

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Director General (School Education) Vijay Kiran Anand, meanwhile, said a committee would be formed to draft a standard operating procedure (SOP) in case of any untoward incident such as this.