A 16-year-old SSLC student who had run away from home on Friday evening leaving behind a note stating that she was being harassed at her school, called up her parents on Saturday night to inform them that she was at a place close to the Andhra Pradesh border, much to the relief of her parents.
Police, however, said she had run away from home with a classmate. “We will ascertain the age of the boy, talk to the girl’s parents and then decide whether to book him or not”, they added.
Earlier on Saturday, the girl’s parents lodged a missing person’s complaint with Srirampura police alleging that their daughter was being allegedly harassed in school by a teacher.
The girl, a student of RES Convent School in Rajajinagar, in her letter, had stated that she was unable to bear the torture in her school. Police said the girl’s father runs a flower decoration business in the city.
The girl’s mother stated in her complaint that the girl has left a letter before leaving home and mentioned names of some of the school’s teachers and the principal. However, police said there were no names of any teachers in the letter.
Speaking to Express, the mother said, “She left home around 7 pm when she was alone at home and my husband had gone to Tumkur on work. My younger daughter was in our shop, not far from home.”
When she returned home, she did not find her daughter. She waited for 30 minutes and finally found her school bag and a letter on the table near the bed. She immediately informed the police, who found another letter in her school bag. The mother claimed that on Friday evening, her daughter looked stressed when she went to school.
“She did not speak to me properly and I thought she might have quarrelled with her friends at school. When I saw her letter, I came to know that some people in her school were torturing her. She had told me that one of her teachers had insulted her and asked other students not to mingle with her as she was not going to tuitions regularly,” she said.
The girl’s father told Express, “Around 9.30 pm on Saturday, my daughter called me up and gave her location. She also asked us to pick her up from the place and said she was very depressed, had written the letter and left home.”
Meanwhile, Srirampura police say there is no evidence to suggest that there was harassment in school by her teachers.
“As of now, there is no indication of harassment. The school teachers have been questioned and it seems the girl was not concentrating on her studies and was also irregular to tuition classes,” a senior police official said.