Keonjhar: Four persons, including a teacher and administrative officer of a private school in Odisha’s Champua, have been arrested for the alleged death by suicide of a 16-year-old student of the institute.
According to sources, hostel supervisor Daitari Sahu (45), teacher Shashi Shekhar Jha (58), administrative officer Prakashan T (48) and hostel warden Surendra Nath Mishra (52) have been arrested under Section 108/3 (5) of the BNS (abetment of suicide) on basis of the complaint filed by the student’s father, a native of Jharkhand’s Chaibasa, at Champua police station.
The father alleged that his son, a Class X student of Kerala English Medium School, took the extreme step as he was subjected to continuous physical assault and mental harassment by the school authorities.
The student allegedly jumped from the roof of the four-storey hostel building of the institute on July 12. He was rushed to Champua hospital but was declared dead on arrival by doctors there.
After the incident, tensions escalated outside the hospital and school as the student’s family demanded a detailed investigation and access to CCTV footage. Authorities permitted three of his relatives to view the footage, but protests persisted. Senior police and administrative officials had to then intervene to placate the protesters. Following which, the family gave consent for a postmortem.
Thereafter, a case was registered under relevant BNS sections and police arrested the four after verifying the complainant’s allegations and examining evidence.
