BHUBANESWAR: The State Government is yet to submit the report sought by National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) over the suicide of a high school board examinee allegedly due to faulty publication of results in 2014.
The rights panel had asked the Chief Secretary to conduct an inquiry by a senior officer of School and Mass Education (SME) Department to find out who were responsible for the faulty evaluation of the answer sheets of Rashmita Sahoo and whether any action is taken against them.
Acting on a petition, subsequent replies of the authorities concerned and then rejoinders by activist-lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy, the commission had asked the Chief Secretary to direct Khurda SP to inform the commission whether any criminal case has been registered in connection with the suicide of Rashmita.
Tripathy alleged that Rashmita, a Class-10 student of Government Girls High School, Khurda, had committed suicide on April 30, 2014 due to faulty evaluation of her papers by the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) which conducts the matriculation exam.
He attributed the negligence of the SME department as a major cause behind her suicide and depression of many students in the State.
Initially, she was given 183 marks and declared failed when the results were announced on April 30. Though two days later her marks were corrected to 239 and she was declared pass with Grade-E, by then Rashmita, only daughter of Bhimasen Sahoo, had committed suicide.
“Even as the incident is a clear case of violation of human rights of the deceased, neither the inquiry report nor the SP’s report has been submitted yet. The commission is still not communicated about the outcome of the investigation,” Tripathy said.
Earlier, acting on three different petitions filed by Tripathy to save the future of lakhs of HSC examinees, the commission had sought ATRs from the State.
Subsequently, the NHRC directed the State to pay ` three lakh as compensation to the family members of Rinki Dehury who committed suicide in Angul district in 2014 over publication of faulty result.