By Matters India Reporter
Kollam: A Malayalam news portal has sought an apology from a Kerala bishop after a teenage girl reportedly committed suicide in a Church-managed school.
“The bishop of Kollam has an obligation to explain how a student of a school where he is the patron committed suicide,” says leftclicknews.com.
Gowri Sneha, a student of the Trinity Lyceum School in Kollam, died on October 23, three days after she jumped from the third floor of the school building.
The 15-year-old tenth grader reportedly ended her life over alleged harassment in the school. She had reportedly objected to teachers punishing her younger sister for talking in the class. Her sister, who is two years younger, was reportedly made to sit with boys. Gowri had got into an argument with the teachers.
The girl’s mother met the school authorities and threatened to file a complaint against the teachers, but they assured her this wouldn’t happen again.
Later, when Gowri was mocked by her sister’s classmates and other students over her protest, she reportedly got angry and jumped off the building.
She was rushed to the nearby Bishop Benziger Hospital managed by the diocese of Quilon. However, as her condition worsened, she was shifted to the Ananthapuri Hospitals and Research Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, capital of Kerala and some 65- kilometers south of Kollam. The hospital kept on ventilator support for three days.
Various students’ bodies have protested against the school management over the girl’s death.
The police have filed a case against two teachers for abetment to suicide. The investigation is on, a senior police officer said.
The news portal accused the school management of making the teachers the scapegoat to escape its responsibility.
It also accused the 65-year-old diocesan hospital of refusing permission to the police and the parents to talk the girl, who it calimed, was conscious at the time of admission.
The portal quoted the police to allege that the hospital had denied treatment to the girl for four hours.
“The hospital authorities were afraid that the girl would reveal what happened at the school,” it alleged and demanded the school authorities own up the responsibility for the girl’s death.
The bishop and his officials have the duty to explain what had happened in the school as well as the hospital that are under their care, it added.
Saju S Das, a family friend of Gowri, said her death has shattered her relatives. “She was screaming with pain when they saw her for the last time at the hospital. She was a brilliant student, a quizzer and hers was a happy family,” said Das. His wife and Gowri’s parents had rushed the girl to the hospital.
He said the hospital authorities told them that the girl would be fine and just needed observation for six hours. “They even told us that we could take her home by evening,” Das added.
Gowri’s body was taken to her residence at Ramankulangara in Kollam. Her final rites were held in a public crematorium in the evening.
Meanwhile Kollam West police have already registered a case against the two teachers. Sub-inspector A Nisamudheen said that both teachers are absconding.