The victim’s father, Pradeep Patil, said his son was scolded and “publicly humiliated” on the same day he died.
A Class 10 student from St Columba’s School in Delhi died by suicide on Tuesday. 16-year-old Shourya Patil jumped from an elevated Metro station in West Delhi in the afternoon. Police later found a handwritten note in his bag, in which he said that some teachers and the headmistress had been repeatedly harassing him. After the incident, police filed a case against the school staff members under sections related to abetment of suicide and acting with common criminal intention under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Following the incident, the school, on Thursday, suspended three teachers and the headmistress immediately.
At the same time, the Delhi government’s Directorate of Education set up a five-member committee to investigate the matter. The panel, led by Joint Director Harshit Jain, has been asked to complete the inquiry and submit its report within three days.
BIG revelation in Delhi school suicide case
New details have come out in the suicide case of the Class 10 student from St Columba’s School. According to the boy’s friends and family, he had been facing “targeted harassment” for several days, but the school allegedly did nothing despite clear warning signs.
Some students said the Shourya had even spoken to the school counsellor and mentioned having suicidal thoughts. Friends shared that he looked very stressed on the day of the incident and often complained that a few teachers would “body shame” or insult students very easily. One student recalled that the boy was mocked by a teacher during dance practice.
The victim’s father, Pradeep Patil, said his son was scolded and “publicly humiliated” on the same day he died. During a dance rehearsal, the boy slipped and fell. When he started crying, a teacher allegedly taunted him saying, “Cry as much as you want, I don’t care.”
One student said, “My friend had already spoken to the counsellor about what he was going through. We were planning to file a complaint with the headmistress in two or three days,” though he did not confirm whether the victim told this directly to him.
The father also said that just a day before the tragedy, his son again said he was being troubled at school. “I told him we would change his school after his board exams since he was in Class 10,” Patil said. He also mentioned that teachers had been repeatedly threatening the boy with expulsion.
Other students claimed that teachers often call parents to school over very small issues. “They call our parents even if someone spills water in class,” one student said. Another claimed that some teachers use “abusive language openly” and dismiss students rudely.
The boy’s father added that he himself had been called to the school about three months earlier about a minor matter. “They complained that he talks in class. I told them—if children his age won’t talk, then who will?” He said he had asked the teachers not to pressure his son over marks because the family was satisfied with his performance.
