CHENNAI: In a ruling that has raised quite a few eyebrows, the Madras High Court has held that teachers, who take action against students to “correct them”, must not be held responsible in case the student commits suicide.
The court was hearing a case filed to quash an order passed by an additional sessions judge acquitting three teachers of government school in Kottaram from charges of abetting a Class-XII student to commit suicide. Dismissing the appeal, Justice RMT Teeka Raman held that “teachers are entitled to correct the wrong order”. The younger generation, the judge said, cannot resort to extreme steps merely on ground of getting less marks.
Expressing his views, the judge said that the increase in number of such cases can be attributed to “enormous pressure” put on students by the educational system.
“It’s high time that the State government formulates a scheme to conduct psychological evaluation of students in Class XI, XII and first year of college, and provide them counselling to handle pressure.”
A catena of judgments passed by Supreme Court and High Courts have held that when teachers take action against students, in the interest of the institution and students themselves, such acts cannot be said to have abetted suicide. Mental health experts, however, disagree.