Jharkhand: Minor Hindu student of St Xavier School killed self after teacher insulted her forwearing bindi in school

The teacher and the principal of the school have been arrested by the police and booked under charges of abatement to suicide

Jul 11, 2023, 09:30 pm IST in Bharat, Jharkhand

A case of how hurting someone’s religious and cultural sentiments can lead to death has come to light from Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district. Here, a 17-year-old Hindu girl killed herself after her teacher at Saint Xavier School insulted her in front of the whole school. She wrote a suicide letter before hanging from the ceiling fan and named the teacher as the reason for her suicide. She said,“I am not able to digest the insult, so killing myself”. The minor victim has been identified as Usha Kumari, a student of class 10 who studied at Saint Xavier school and a resident of the Hanumangarhi colony in Dhanbad.
Usha was upset over her insult in front of the whole class. Notably, one of her teachers identified as Sindu Mam, not only scolded Usha but also slapped her for wearing a Bindi at the school. Usha committed suicide on July 10 in her house. The victim also left a suicide note for Tetulmari police in her school uniform. After her family members found the body and the letter they reached school carrying the girl in their hands.
They staged a Dharna outside the school campus.
Organiser accessed the suicide note written by the victim girl which says,“I Usha Kumari, 17, daughter of late Vijay Bauri, resident of Hanumangarhi is going to commit suicide”.

She added,“My problem is that I am a student of Dhanbad St Xavier School, today one of my teachers insulted me in front of the whole school and throw me out. Her name is Sindhu Madam and she is solely responsible for my death. When I will die, take action against her”.
Notably, the victim’s mother, Vandana Devi in her statements to the media said, Usha went to the school on July 10 and was sent back home after insulting badly. She told Vandana everything after which Usha and her mother reached school to meet the principal. Usha was scolded for wearing Bindi in school. When they reached the campus, they too were insulted and sent back.

The SDPO Nisha Murmu told the media that, on the complaint of the victim’s mother Vandana, they have arrested the principal of the school Rajkishore Singh and Sindhu Jha.

Notably, after the arrest the victim’s family blocked the road and staged a protest, they demanded stringent punishment against the culprits.
A First Information Report (number–33/2023) was registered at the Tetulmari police station on July 10.

The accused have been booked under IPC sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 34 (acts done by several people with common intention).

The Station House Officer, Tetulmari, Ashish Kumar Yadav told Organiser that, the dead body of the deceased was sent for post-mortem to SNMMCH hospital and they have arrested the two named accused in this case.
On the other hand, teacher Sindhu told the media,“I am a primary school teacher, I take classes of students from 3 to 6, I don’t know the girl as she was in class 10. On Monday, she was sitting in the library and was also crying, I went and asked what was the matter and also scolded her for wearing a Bindi, to which she responded abruptly”.
She added,“Usha said, you have no right to tell me anything, so I took her to the principal’s office and then went to take my class. I did not slap her, the allegations are all false”.
Following the suicide, demands are coming from all sides to suspend the registration of the school. The Bhartiya Janata Party state president, Babulal Marandi from his official Twitter handle wrote,“Heartbroken to hear the news. A class 10 student studying at St. Xavier’s School in Dhanbad has committed suicide. The student had written a suicide note in her uniform. It has been revealed that the girl student had gone to school wearing a bindi, for which a teacher there had beaten and humiliated her. Hurt by this, the student ended her life. Don’t know why such schools are annoyed with eternal symbols? Honourable Chief Minister, take cognizance of this matter and write a letter to the concerned department to cancel the recognition of the school.”