A 16-year-old girl studying in the 11th standard has hanged herself to death in a government-aided Christian school in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.
Archana, daughter of a mason, was studying in Lourdu Annai Girl’s Higher Secondary school, K.Pudur in Madurai. She was found hanging from the ceiling fan of the classroom by her friends on the morning of 6th September.
Archana reportedly went to school as early as 8am, locked the classroom doors from inside and hanged herself. Her classmates who arrived around 8.30-8.45 tried the windows as the door was locked and were horrified to find her hanging. They informed the teachers while one of them ran to Archana’s house to inform her parents.
Her father came to the school, got her down and took her to hospital. But she was pronounced dead on arrival. So he brought her back to the school. School authorities had by then informed the K.Pudur police station about the incident. A tussle seems to have followed between police and the girl’s family over taking her body.
The girl’s body was finally sent to Government Rajaji Hospital for autopsy. Her parents and relatives staged a protest in front of the school alleging that she committed suicide fearing scolding & punishment at the school for taking a 3-day leave. The school alleges that since she took leave for so many days, it must have been a personal issue that prompted her to attempt suicide.
Leema Rose, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Anna Nagar came to the spot for investigation. Archana’s father said, ‘she had taken the extreme step fearing penal action from the school authorities for her long absence’. Relatives refused to take the body after postmortem was done and staged a protest in the evening demanding action against those responsible for the suicide. Police is investigating the matter.
References
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/girl-found-dead-in-classroom/article29354900.ece
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